Pedestrian right of way mucking up traffic circles
The problem with traffic circles is pedestrians. In Europe, where the circles work well quite often, pedestrians don’t have the right of way. Just as in Quebec, you can’t run them over but the obligation to get out and stay out of the way is on the pedestrian(s).
In B.C., pedestrians do have the right of way.
And bad planners put the crosswalks right up against the traffic circle, ensuring that one meandering pedestrian can back up traffic in every direction.
We already have two traffic circles effectively bracketing the hospital. If we understand correctly, a third traffic circle is going to be built less than 100 metres from the Gibbins-Cowichan Lake Roads chaos point. So that one person can step out at the wrong time of day in the wrong one of any of those traffic circles and create backups of traffic for literally kilometers in all directions.
Have you seen the back-ups now? Can you imagine once one traffic circle backs up vehicles into the next traffic circle?
This is the worst possible planning.
This is potentially, without exaggeration, life and death.
It’s that basic.
This level of stupidity is not acceptable. If my parents or children are put at risk because of this sheer lack of talent in your employ, we’ll be driving across lawns. And if people do start dying in stuck vehicles…?
Scrap the recently announced plan. Replace the current planners with competent people please, before we all face unnecessary tragedy and/or multiple court case costs that make the Cowichan Motorsports possibility small change by comparison.
AB Seass
Cowichan Valley