I recently received an email from a Community Herald reader expressing concern about the lack of of public awareness around a new traffic law.
“You are likely aware there is a new law on the books related to how you are to pass an emergency vehicle stopped on the side of the road with flashing lights activated,” he wrote. “I figured it was of sufficient importance that [a sign] would be posted at the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border along with [information about] cell phones, honey bees, 911, 511, etc. Considering that this is not a law in New Brunswick, it would be a logical addition.
“...I believe you are the perfect person to contact the Department of Transportation and find out why they are rather secretive about this new law.”
Sir, thanks for your faith in me. Let’s look at this new law:
In May of this year, a law was passed which requires drivers, when passing a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights flashing, to slow down to 60 km/hr, and to leave an empty lane between themselves and the stopped vehicle, if they can do so safely.
The fines for not slowing down, or not moving over, range from $340.21 to $685.21 for a first offence.
I had heard about this law, but a few of my friends, for instance, hadn’t, so I contacted Lindsay Lewis, spokesperson for the Nova Scotia department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal and asked her what kind of campaign had been undertaken to spread the word.
“We put together a fairly comprehensive education campaign leading up to the law,” she told me. “About a month out, we put out a news release just saying the law was coming. We put one out again the day before. And we also put together print ads, radio ads, TV ads [on the community channel], and online ads.
“We also made up close to 5000 post cards for emergency responders to give out ...and we made posters and sent them out to visitor information centres, Access Nova Scotia centres, and public spaces like that.”
I asked if her department had been able to gauge the overall level of public awareness of the campaign, but she said that would be a difficult thing to measure. “We did get some feedback that people still weren't aware of it, so we put together another campaign and ran it over long weekends during the summer months.”
I put my reader's suggestion, about putting a sign up at the border, to Ms. Lewis. “It's tricky,” she said, “because we have a number of road safety laws in Nova Scotia, and you can't put a sign up for every single one. We have one up for the cell phone law. We have a couple of other ones – the seatbelt law, obviously. ...We do put this information in the visitor information centres, and in the Doers’ and Dreamers’ Guide, so hopefully consumers can get the information that way.”
I’m with my reader on this one. I don’t think it would be that problematic for drivers to have to read another sign at the border. However, I would suggest that this whole issue is less about secrecy and more about a somewhat ineffectual public information campaign.
But, thanks to his concern, we can safely say that at least a few more people are now in the know about the law.
To find out more, go to gov.ns.ca/tran/hottopics/keepmesafe.asp.
Showing posts with label Halifax; drivers; driving; traffic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halifax; drivers; driving; traffic. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Jane Goodall of Traffic
In traffic, as in life, there used to be a few standard rules a person could count on: a stop sign or a red light meant, “Come to a full stop here, my good fellow.” And a yellow light meant, “Whoa, slow down, yo.”
But lately I’ve noticed – sharp-eyed trend-watcher that I am – that Haligonian drivers are running yellow lights, red lights and stop signs with rather disconcerting regularity.
I’ll admit that I occasionally drive through a yellow light myself, particularly if I feel that there’s a strong risk that my car will get rear-ended if I stop in a hurry.
That said, there are plenty of drivers who seem to see a yellow light as an invitation to speed up, and a stop sign as a vague suggestion to slow down. How do I know? Well, in the interests of science and journalism and good governance, I put on my invisible “special constable” hat, and went out onto the streets of Halifax to become the Jane Goodall of Traffic.
Now, I know that as good Canadians we’re not supposed to trust raw data anymore. Apparently, it’s best to just let some federal government spokes-type make vague assertions about “the way things are” and leave it at that. But you know me. I just don’t trust The Man the way I should.
So I parked my butt at the intersection of Oxford and Almon Streets at nine-thirty on a weekday morning to test out my traffic theories. Over the course of twenty minutes, I watched a dozen drivers gun it to make it through a yellow light, and saw six drivers more or less run a red light. My thesis was proving correct.
But I’d noticed that it wasn’t just traffic lights that people seemed to be barrelling through, so my notebook and I moved to the four-way stop at Harvard and Allan Streets. Perhaps “four-way STOP” is the wrong name for this type of intersection. In a twenty minute period I watched a mere nineteen cars (or 28%) come to a full stop. Twenty-nine cars (or 43%) slowed down a bit and then rolled right though the intersection. But another 28% barely touched the brake pedal at all, more or less driving straight through the stop sign. Rather amusingly, one of those non-stopping vehicles was actually a truck marked “Traffic Control Division.”
Anyway, my next stakeout was on the street that runs down past the Halifax Shopping Centre, between Bayers and Mumford Roads. Apparently, this street is called “Halifax Shopping Centre Boulevard.” Halfway down, there’s a three-way stop that intersects with the lower level of the parking garage.
It was here that I witnessed the most glaring offences of my entire scientific survey. Only 17% of the drivers I watched came to a stop at any of the three stop signs. Almost half - 48% - just touched the brake then rolled through. But most disconcerting of all, 34% - that was forty-seven drivers in twenty minutes – barely slowed at all, and most drove right through at full speed.
What, exactly, is the point of my Nobel-worthy research, you may ask? To provide proof of humanity’s further downward slide into amorality and corruption? Yes. Oh, and also to remind people to watch out for these goofballs. The police can’t be everywhere at once, so I think we could all benefit from being a little more watchful for these traffic anarchists.
And if you need a bit of happy government-style spin on my rather depressing findings, how’s this? “Halifax Drivers Going Green: Minimal Wear on Brake Pads Means Fewer Car Parts in Landfill.”
But lately I’ve noticed – sharp-eyed trend-watcher that I am – that Haligonian drivers are running yellow lights, red lights and stop signs with rather disconcerting regularity.
I’ll admit that I occasionally drive through a yellow light myself, particularly if I feel that there’s a strong risk that my car will get rear-ended if I stop in a hurry.
That said, there are plenty of drivers who seem to see a yellow light as an invitation to speed up, and a stop sign as a vague suggestion to slow down. How do I know? Well, in the interests of science and journalism and good governance, I put on my invisible “special constable” hat, and went out onto the streets of Halifax to become the Jane Goodall of Traffic.
Now, I know that as good Canadians we’re not supposed to trust raw data anymore. Apparently, it’s best to just let some federal government spokes-type make vague assertions about “the way things are” and leave it at that. But you know me. I just don’t trust The Man the way I should.
So I parked my butt at the intersection of Oxford and Almon Streets at nine-thirty on a weekday morning to test out my traffic theories. Over the course of twenty minutes, I watched a dozen drivers gun it to make it through a yellow light, and saw six drivers more or less run a red light. My thesis was proving correct.
But I’d noticed that it wasn’t just traffic lights that people seemed to be barrelling through, so my notebook and I moved to the four-way stop at Harvard and Allan Streets. Perhaps “four-way STOP” is the wrong name for this type of intersection. In a twenty minute period I watched a mere nineteen cars (or 28%) come to a full stop. Twenty-nine cars (or 43%) slowed down a bit and then rolled right though the intersection. But another 28% barely touched the brake pedal at all, more or less driving straight through the stop sign. Rather amusingly, one of those non-stopping vehicles was actually a truck marked “Traffic Control Division.”
Anyway, my next stakeout was on the street that runs down past the Halifax Shopping Centre, between Bayers and Mumford Roads. Apparently, this street is called “Halifax Shopping Centre Boulevard.” Halfway down, there’s a three-way stop that intersects with the lower level of the parking garage.
It was here that I witnessed the most glaring offences of my entire scientific survey. Only 17% of the drivers I watched came to a stop at any of the three stop signs. Almost half - 48% - just touched the brake then rolled through. But most disconcerting of all, 34% - that was forty-seven drivers in twenty minutes – barely slowed at all, and most drove right through at full speed.
What, exactly, is the point of my Nobel-worthy research, you may ask? To provide proof of humanity’s further downward slide into amorality and corruption? Yes. Oh, and also to remind people to watch out for these goofballs. The police can’t be everywhere at once, so I think we could all benefit from being a little more watchful for these traffic anarchists.
And if you need a bit of happy government-style spin on my rather depressing findings, how’s this? “Halifax Drivers Going Green: Minimal Wear on Brake Pads Means Fewer Car Parts in Landfill.”
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