People just don’t seem to get just how dangerous a stretch of road Nordel Way is.
Last week the Delta Police Department started giving drivers advanced notice of traffic enforcement blitzes via its new traffic unit Twitter account. That same day, police sent out a warning to drivers that they would be set up at the bottom of Nordel Way.
Those officers wound up writing back-to-back tickets for an hour, nabbing 28 drivers for going 30 km/h or more over the 60 km/h speed limit.
The North Delta Reporter published a pair of stories about it online — one before and one after — and many of our readers were indignant. In no time, there were a slew of comments chiding the police for warning drivers instead of busting them, and even more calling police out for setting up their speed trap at the bottom of the hill. A bunch of people said the speed limit should be raised along Nordel.
Perhaps they didin’t see that two weeks ago the DPD released its list of worst accident locations in Delta, and that Nordel not only topped the list, it made the cut three times. The department even had to lump a number of locations along Nordel together in order to keep the list to a manageable “Top 10” format.
Maybe they don’t know that, according to ICBC, crashes along Nordel Way (between Brooke Road and the Highway 91 Connector at Highway 17) cost $5.25 million in 2016, up from $4.2 million in 2015.
Maybe they’re unaware that three people have been killed in accidents on Nordel in the past year and a half.
Anecdotally, a staggering number of accidents take place with alarming frequency along Nordel Way, especially near the northbound Highway 91 on ramp. Turn on your Twitter notifications for #DeltaBC or set a Google alert: you’ll see near daily warnings of rush hour fender-benders (or worse).
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Day or night, rain or shine, peak times or slow times, Nordel Way is a perilous thoroughfare that deserves more respect from drivers than it’s getting.
For the most part, these accidents are entirely preventable, as excessive speed and distracted driving are the cause of most crashes. Slowing down and giving the road ones full attention would go a long way towards making our roads safer for everyone.
And as for warning of traffic enforcement blitzes instead of stealthily setting traps for would-be speeders?
Well, if the DPD’s tweets can save lives by getting people to slow down along Delta’s most treacherous roadways, then isn’t that the most important thing?
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