Common sense missing
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Updated: October 02, 2009 12:45 PM
"Common sense is not so common."
Voltaire said this, around 300 years ago.
That was well before the industrial revolution. Before motorized vehicles, before paved roads and certainly before sidewalks, crosswalks, and flashing amber lights. Well, wouldn't Voltaire have a heyday watching the antics of drivers and pedestrians around Agassiz?
Whether it's the drivers using the area from the Teacup to Morrow Road as a raceway, or the jaywalkers crossing highways at their leisure, what happens on local roads every day is a recipe for disaster.
The addition of a crosswalk on Hwy. 9, where most kids were funneling from residential areas to AESS, was long overdue. It wasn't cheap, and took years of political jostling to get built. And while the new crossing provided a photo op last week, it wasn't meant to be a feather in anyone's cap. It was meant to help avoid tragedy on our roads.
The crosswalk also brings the number of safe crossings, in a very short distance, up to three. You would think people would have no choice but to cross safely. But that's not always the case. People are still darting across, in between those three safe crossings. And despite flashing amber signals that pedestrians can activate with the push of a button, drivers have been cruising right past them.
We have to ask: Where are we all going that's so important? Why are we all in such a hurry?
The District of Kent has gone out of its way to inform people on using the crosswalk, and AESS has been reminding their students to cross safely.
But it all seems so obvious. In fact, it seems an awful lot like common sense.
Some are hoping that a crosswalk right in front of AESS is next on the government's to-do list, maybe only months away. Let's hope it comes with a good dose of common sense.
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