Editor:
This is response to the multitude of articles about road safety and measures being considered by our elected people. The last letter to the editor (Lives lost as safety sidelined, April 8) was the drop that filled the bucket.
I am following all the news and announcements that are directly linked to road safety, and I am only hearing and seeing old approaches being worded differently and barely applied – if at all.
Being relatively new to B.C. from Eastern Canada, I have a wider view of the issues plaguing this province. The problem we see here is not one that can be dealt with by adding fines or imposing toll stations on every road.
The driving conditions are some of the worst in North America – and that is saying a lot.
We need an approach that deals with all of the factors that created this situation in the first place:
• rules of the road not understood
• rules of the road not enforced
• no refresher training for the compulsive problematic drivers
• no or little followup with said drivers
• road designs that create choke points
• unsynchronized traffic lights creating traffic jams
I could go on and on for pages, but you get the point.
The real problem is actually between the steering wheel and the seat; that is the only start point that will have an effective impact. The rest are mostly technicalities, such as synchronizing traffic lights and having the proper departments taking care of the proper issues – ICBC/department of motor vehicle office taking care of the driver’s licences and records; and professional insurance companies taking care of insurance aspects.
We have one of the most beautiful places in North America. We can’t enjoy it because it is so difficult to go anywhere.
We have the tools to change that and become the envy of North America.
For that to happen, we need the people in power to start understanding the difference between a Band-Aid solution and a cure to the issues we are facing.
Stephane Fournier, Surrey
