Skip to content

Bridge Street has become a game of Russian roulette

I am putting aside my urge to talk politics this week and make a plea to all the drivers in town. Please slow down and pay attention when you are driving through town.

Before I had to push a stroller around town I really didn’t think that it was all that bad. I used to just run across the street when I felt safe enough to do so but now I notice a lot more of those close calls and drivers who just refuse to acknowledge you. The scary thing is I am not the only one who feels that things are getting worse on Bridge Street.

A few days ago when I was walking through town with my son in his stroller we had to wait at an intersection for a number of vehicles before it was clear to cross when a local resident came over and started telling me horror stories of driving through town and this was not the first time someone had stopped me to talk about how Bridge Street has become like a game of Russian roulette.  One story that really got me was when this couple was stopped at a crosswalk to allow a pedestrian to cross, the truck behind them passed them, ripping through the crosswalk while the person was still crossing. I am ashamed to say that I am not surprised. I cannot count the amount of times I have been halfway through an intersection and had a car drive right past me. The scary part is that my son was with me. Pedestrians have the right away in a crosswalk. If you don’t believe me look it up in section 179 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

People not stopping at crosswalks and the few drivers who don’t think they have to wait for you to be safely across the crosswalk before they drive through is one thing. The other major issue on Bridge Street is the speed at which people drive through town.  Bridge Street is posted at 30km per hour but there are a handful of drivers in town who see Bridge Street as a straight away to try and get across as fast as they can.  I was crossing from the corner at Overwaitea to the Loonie Bin dollar store. The road was clear. A truck had just crossed the brown bridge but by the time I got to the other side of the street I just got out of the way as this truck went speeding by.

Drivers need to be more aware of the rules of the road but more importantly they need to slow down in town and pay attention to what is going on around them.  I understand that some of these people may have just got off a long day of work and are in a hurry to get home but remember if you kill someone you won’t be going home for dinner for a long, long time. Summer is coming and this means there will bem even more people in town which means more pedestrians and more kids. Slow down. Follow the rules so you don’t have to explain to the RCMP why you were going to fast and why someone else will never go home for dinner again.