To the editor,
Re: Man airlifted to hospital after Lantzville crash, Dec. 6.
I followed the link to your online archive of the serious road traffic crashes you have covered over the past 12 months.
I was horrified by the numbers. I counted 56 in one year, not counting the serious crashes that have occurred on the Nanoose section of the Island highway. More than one serious crash per week – just in the Nanaimo area.
While good driving abounds, evidently there is too much bad driving, and motorcycling for that matter.
The ‘carrot and stick’ metaphor is applicable to matters motoring. Politicians and insurance corporations have continued to use the stick approach to remedy poor driving and riding standards with little obvious effect. There is an absence of reasons to use carrots, perhaps in part because of a lack of local providers of post-basic driver and rider competence training, despite evidence of the value of such training.
In conversation with a friend, I was reminded of the U.K.’s Institute of Advanced Motorists. They coach the application of a systematic method of driving, equally applicable to cars and motorcycles. The institute does not have any official groups in North America but their system is accessible enough to be self-taught with peer feedback.
I would like to ask your readership if there are any like-minded individuals who might like to establish such a group in the Nanaimo area?
Jonathan Binnington, Nanoose Bay
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The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.
