As I pointed out in a previous post, and commented on by another Milton blogger Zeeshan Hamid, there was a letter to the Champion outlining several instances of aggressive drivers in the Town of Milton. It seems to be an ongoing problem with no real direction on what changes can be made.
Here’s Jean Paul’s letter this week. It echos Cristina’s letter from last week.
What can be done? There seems to be two different problems here. One of them is aggressive driving and speeding in residential areas and the second being on the main roads like Derry and James Snow Parkway among other major intersections.
I’ve talked about traffic calming zones with speed bumps for residential streets to force drivers to slow down in areas around schools and where kids walk and play. On the Hawthorne Villager Forum, people have talked about other ideas that possibly include a form of photo radar.
Raising awareness doesnt seem to work well. You can have blitzes by police on a regular basis, but it seems that people go back to their old habits of driving 10km/hr over the speed limit because they can get away from it.
Why not make the speed limit 40km/hr in every residential area…no execptions. If youre driving around homes, where there could be children crossing the street or bikes on the road the limit is 40km/hr. This way if police do catch speeders, the fines will be increased and maybe someone will think twice about going over the speed limit.
There have been comparisons to speeding on the highways and the main streets and residential streets, and to me there is a huge difference. Highways have an “allowance” of being over the speed limit. Thats what fast lanes are for I’m told.
The fact of the matter is there are no fast lanes on Derry Road, Clark Blvd, Ferguson, Louis St Laurent, Trudeau or any other residentail street. That arguement is mute.
It seems to be an ongoing issue. Any ideas out there? Let’s discuss.
In regard to Cristina Drapeau’s recent letter about aggressive drivers in Milton, I couldn’t agree with her more.
I have lived in Milton for about seven years now and shortly after moving in I started to notice the exact same problems at the same intersections — Derry Road at Trafalgar Road and Derry at James Snow Parkway.
Other drivers have always used the merging lane as a quick pass lane and feel they have the right of way to merge aggressively.
I’ve witnessed a large amount of road rage and aggressive driving. Many of these drivers I see offend repeatedly on a daily basis. At least a few give a wave when you let them in.
Although I understand that the police can’t be everywhere all the time, I feel that everyone should know there’s something citizens can do about this problem. It’s called Community Road Watch.
It’s a community program where if you witness another driver demonstrating unsafe driving behaviour you can report that driver and incident.
The police will send the driver a letter explaining their unsafe behaviour and ask for their voluntary compliance.
If the driver receives multiple letters, then the police may contact the driver and potentially lay charges if they feel it necessary.
It’s quite simple to do. Just remember or jot down the information of the incident, including licence, vehicle, time, driver description, time, and location. You then report it by giving the report to your local police station.
There’s even an on-line system for reporting at www.haltonroadwatch.ca to make it even easier.
However, I do feel it’s important that one takes their time and considers what they’re reporting and if it’s correct or if we are letting our frustration get the better of us.
JOHN-PAUL DELSENY, MILTON
