Traffic nightmare a taste of the future
This is the perfect time for a drive downtown on Blanshard Street to get a glimpse of the future for Victoria drivers.
You will experience what one lane going each way feels like once the city has completed its insane plan to close two northbound lanes on Douglas Street by the current bus depot, re-routing that traffic to Blanshard which will be reduced to one lane each way in order to make room for bike lanes on both sides and trees in the middle of the street.
Think Fort Street except probably worse.
Even on light traffic days during the current construction, the snarled congestion on Blanshard is beyond the pale and when you add in the high volumes of ferry traffic every hour throughout the sumner, it will be a sheer delight.
The logic behind closing/restricting the only two roads in and out of the city is a mystery but is certainly in keeping with the city’s irrational war on cars.
I cannot help but wonder if there is an award for the city that creates the most pollution from vehicles idling as a result of poor road design.
R.G. Persson
Victoria
Eyes on the road, please, not on your phone
In addition to removing earbuds, whether jay walking or actually using the crossing lights, I would add that “phone folks” need to put their phones away — completely — while they are walking.
Too many are running into other people and way too many, while on their phones, cross streets expecting vehicles to screech to a stop — and when they do, just in time — the “phone folks” do not even look up to acknowledge that they just missed getting run over.
Most of us see this trend many times daily. It needs to stop, just like drivers stop in awe of the apparent invincibility of “phone folks.”
Paul Crober
North Saanich
Making life tougher for those who drive
Did the folks at Victoria City Hall get elected on a mandate to remove cars from downtown by making every car owner in the area go raving mad? I don’t remember such a mandate.
The evidence:
Major traffic routes narrowed for bike lanes instead of designating secondary roads for cyclists where possible.
Curved corners at intersections removed to form strictly square corners, so an entire lane of traffic has to wait for one car turning right from that lane.
Traffic lights co-ordinated to stop traffic at every intersection – stopping the efficient flow of traffic.
Parking spots diminished dramatically due to bike lanes on major shopping streets, discouraging downtown shopping, and resulting in business heading to malls.
Condo towers going up everywhere one looks. Each of those towers represents another 80 to 100 or more cars coming to our already plugged roads.
Effective through streets like 91原创 and Richardson blocked off for bicycles.
I’m sure there is more. Victoria used to be a lovely gentle city, easy to get around to the interesting downtown shopping area.
It is no longer. So many of us avoid it whenever possible.
Congratulations ideologues at City Hall. You should leave so someone with a brain and a heart can fix the mess you have made of our beautiful city.
Theresa Moylan
Victoria
End complacency behind the wheel
It seems to me that a substantial percentage of drivers these days are guilty of DWI — driving while indifferent, that is.
Stop signs and centre lines are mere suggestions, especially if there are no vehicles coming. Traffic lights that have the audacity to turn amber are not anticipated and are often ignored. It’s not uncommon to see three or more vehicles (drivers) choosing to accelerate through a single intersection rather than safely brake. (Always think “stale green,” unless you see it’s a “fresh green.”)
Far too many vehicles’ headlights and taillights are only used in the dark of night, though they are your vehicle’s cheapest and most effective safety feature.
Day or night, they not only help you see, but to be seen. They also allow other drivers to better judge both your speed and distance. Turn signals have apparently become optional, or are used only when the light turns green. (I love a surprise!)
And speeding through school zones has become rampant, with vehicles hundreds of metres behind ending up in my rear-view mirror if I’m doing the limit. I’m sure many of these speeding drivers have children and would be devastated if their child was hit by a vehicle while at school.
It’s disturbing to witness these driving behaviours on a daily basis. A proper stop takes only a second longer than lurching around a corner or past a stop sign or bar.
Running an amber or red or crossing the centre line can and does have deadly consequences.
End this complacency behind the wheel and to be more respectful of the rules of the road, and more considerate of other road users.
Dave Kirk
Nanaimo
There is an ideal speed for urban streets
Re: “Lower speed limits don’t make any sense,” letter, Dec. 12.
I would respectfully suggest that it is the letter that doesn’t make any sense.
It begins by saying “most vehicles barely move at 30 km/h.” If that were the case, it logically follows that, after the lowering, nothing will change from the way it is now. So what is the problem?
It follows with his second point “… most people will not follow this.” This is a direct contradiction to the first point.
The letter then asks: “… how totally stupid are the people who decide this?” Well, while I generally agree that politicians often make decisions based on their own political agenda, in this particular case, we should applaud them for deciding based on provable scientific fact.
I would encourage readers to search online for “The power model of the relationship between speed and road safety. Update and new analyses,” by Rune Elvik.
Elvik is a highly respected expert in the field of traffic safety. His paper explains in great detail why 30 km/h is the ideal speed for urban streets.
I am astounded why so many people don’t get the facts before passing judgment.
Bob Etheridge
Brentwood Bay
Canada as a state, and Donald Trump
Two suggestions here…
1. We should really encourage the 13 per cent of us who would like Canada to be the 51st state to pack up and move south. The vacant homes that would be left behind could just be the thing to solve our housing affordability crises. Sounds like a win-win scenario to me!
2. Since Donald Trump thinks it’s hilarious to call our prime minister “the Governor of the great state of Canada,” we should start calling him “the vice president (elect) of the USA — as we all know the person really calling all the shots down there is “President (unelected)” Elon Musk.
Phil Smith
View Royal
What will replace the energy revenue
One minor technical difficulty is always ignored in discussions about climate change: The effect on the economy, and nation overall, if no one comes up with a replacement for the $150 billion, or so, in net energy exports that enable us to maintain our standard of living. If we lose those exports, we also lose the ability to pay for the imports that we need.
So, what is the substitution plan? No one seems to have thought about it.
Roger Love
Saanich
Knowledge of economics needed in tariff talk
Donald Trump claims that the United States is subsidizing Canada to the tune of one billion dollars, or $100 million, depending on which of his tweets you want to take notice of.
His claim is based on the size of the trade deficit, the difference between the value of our exports and imports with the U.S.
Trump likes simple headline-grabbing solutions, so why don’t we let him know that we can eliminate this imbalance overnight by imposing an appropriate level of tariff on exports from here to the U.S.?
Makes as much sense as the U.S. trying to harm its trading partners by imposing import tariffs which anyone with a little knowledge of economics knows will impact consumers in the U.S. the most.
When duties on Chinese goods were introduced, it was made to sound as if the U.S. would receive big bags of cash from China to pay the tariffs. In reality it is the consumer in the U.S. who has ended up paying!
Paul Laraman
Mill Bay
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