Dear Editor,
At about 10 a.m. Thursday, while driving a family member to an urgent appointment at the UBC eye clinic, I noticed that northbound drivers, especially those in the HOV lane, had a distraction awaiting them as they merged into the freeway just before the tunnel: A sign blinking “Public Safety #1. New Bridge Needed.”
Who put it up? Surely, not the Corporation of Delta? But it sure looks like one of Delta’s mobile signs.
If “public safety is #1,” why erect a sign that’s blinking a message that’s irrelevant to the drivers’ task at hand: merging into a freeway just before a tunnel?
If “public safety is #1,” where’s the automated system that fines selfish drivers who don’t allow others to merge?
If “public safety is # 1,” where’s the automated system that catches the licence plates of those who change lanes dangerously and illegally while approaching or while driving through the tunnel?
If “public safety is #1,” why not ban heavy trucks from the tunnel during rush hours?
If “public safety is #1,” why did politicians cancel photo radar?
If “public safety is #1,” why don’t our politicians allow more red light cameras at intersections?
If “public safety is #1,” why has running stop signs and red lights become so common?
If “public safety is #1,” why have crosswalks become so unsafe?
Might it be that the “Public Safety #1. New Bridge Needed” sign belongs to Delta? It has no twin on the Richmond side, distracting drivers going south; Delta is lobbying for a new bridge; Richmond and the rest of Metro Vancouver’s members are lobbying against it. Which means that somebody — I hope it’s not Delta — is engaging in a distracting and dangerous form of campaigning.
It’s a political sign, folks, that has no regard for public safety even though it blinks: “Public Safety #1. New Bridge Needed.”
By the way, northbound freeway traffic stalled in Richmond, south of the Oak Street bridge; according to 730 AM Radio, all northbound arteries in Vancouver — Granville, Oak, and Cambie — were congested. If built, that new bridge might get us to the congestion a tad sooner.
Greg J. Edwards
Delta
