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Good Sense and Patience!

I've posted a number of columns detailing the many incidents of bad driving I have witnessed. While I would like to say that the situation has improved, that certainly is not the case.

I've posted a number of columns detailing the many incidents of bad driving I have witnessed. While I would like to say that the situation has improved, that certainly is not the case.

I'm not convinced the situation has gotten worse, but there may be an argument for this.

What does seem to be in short supply is good sense and patience.

It should come as no surprise to any driver in the Sault -- or elsewhere, for that matter -- that spring and summer constitute construction season. Construction means delays and detours.

It needs to be done, and there is no point whatsoever complaining that it should have been done X years ago. It wasn't. It is being done now.

I hear people suggesting that the construction could be done differently, making it more convenient for motorists, for instance: do one side first, then the other, allowing at least some traffic flow; do the construction overnight, or restrict it to outside of "rush hour."

Unfortunately, the primary concern is, and needs to be, the safety of the workers, and getting the job done quickly and properly. While simple re-paving projects may accommodate having motorists share the roadway with the construction crews, more extensive rebuilds require road closures.

Road closures create detours, often following routes that are unfamiliar to motorists.

Many motorists only know one route to their destination, whether that be work, school, or shopping. To have them follow a series of small orange signs, perhaps making several turns onto streets they may have driven past previously but not driven on, creates confusion.

Add to that the fact that the City often does not adequately warn motorists of an upcoming detour, and the confusion only increases.

And, in the case of tourists and other motorists coming from out-of-town, having signage that advises that a road is closed between one street and another conveys very little useful information to these drivers.

Even when people are able to follow the marked detours, the increase in the volume of traffic creates further problems, mostly due to the delays experienced. When a driver is used to taking a certain amount of time to reach their destination, adding and extra 10 to 15 minutes to that drive can cause a lot of frustration.

I have seen drivers who were obviously frustrated by the delays along Wellington Street -- some I would even say were rather angry. The problem is, frustration and anger will not make the traffic move any faster.

So what's the solution? Patience.

Leave a bit earlier, if possible. We know where the major construction projects are located, and most of us have experienced the delays a few times by now.

Be patient. If the delay is unavoidable, take a deep breath and bear with it. You will get through that section, probably sooner than it seems when you are all worked-up about it.

Find an alternate route. One of the problems with how the network of streets has developed over the decades is a lack of major thoroughfares. However, there are some reasonably good alternate routes that can be taken to by-pass the congestion.

Many of these are through residential neighbourhoods, so drivers should slow down from their usual 20-over-the-limit speeds, but the time gained by not sitting through three traffic light cycles is appreciable.

Some of the alternate routes do use larger thoroughfares, and may take drivers a bit out of their way, but again the time gained can be appreciable. For instance: When I come off Old Garden River onto Second Line, I am often faced with a line of vehicles in the left turn lane that reaches back to the Walmart entrance.

Instead of following the lemmings over the cliff, so to speak, I head straight down Second Line to Sackville Road. From there a left turn takes me to Northern Avenue, turning right onto Reid Street, left onto Wawanosh, and back to Great Northern.

In truth, that may actually take two or three minutes longer, but it eliminates the apparent delay of waiting through three or four traffic light cycles to get onto Great Northern and through the Northern Avenue intersection.

Speaking of patience…

There are a few particularly impatient drivers who seem to believe that if they move up to within inches centimetres of the vehicle ahead of them, gesture angrily and sound their horn, that they will get through traffic more quickly.

This is not the case.

If the vehicle ahead of me is not moving, or not moving quickly, there is little I can do to change that. Certainly I cannot go faster than the vehicle ahead of me.

One other point regarding patience:

Obey the traffic lights. Please.

Believe it or not, by obeying the traffic lights traffic flows much better.

The major cause of delays at the Second Line-Great Northern intersection is not volume of traffic; it is drivers who run Amber/Red lights. (According to the Highway Traffic Act, "Amber" means STOP.)

ONE driver is allowed to enter the intersection to wait for the opportunity to make a left turn, if there is room to exit onto the new street. The next driver should be waiting behind the white line.

What happens, instead, is that the first driver enters the intersection, with the second driver close behind. Often the third driver is also out beyond the white line -- typically blocking the crosswalk.

When the Green light turns Amber, the one legitimately-positioned driver is permitted to complete their turn when it is safe to do so. If the following drivers had stayed behind the line, they would have to wait for the next left turn signal.

Instead, two, three, heck! I've watched four or five additional vehicles make the left turn while the left-turn signal for the cross street was activated. This prevents drivers on the cross street from making their left-turns, which leads to further impatience and the running of Amber and Red lights, preventing the cross traffic from making their left-turns, and so on.

In short order this produces a domino effect, where drivers are now waiting three or more light cycles, all because of impatience.

Use good sense when driving. Be patient.

As for myself, I'd rather take 10-15 minutes longer to get where I'm going, and keep my blood pressure in-check, than get all worked-up and take stupid chances and risk being involved in a collision.

But… that's just my opinion.
 


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