A maniac, as generally described in dictionaries these days, might be considered as someone who is generally overzealous or inordinately enthusiastic about something. Taken further, a maniac might be described as a raving or violently insane person.
After reading a police report of Canada Day long weekend incidents, it seems those descriptions may also describe many drivers on Alberta highways.
There may be those who don’t appreciate our use of the term maniac in our front page headline, but consider…
Is maniac too strong a term for someone with a “need for speed” driving 203 km/h, in the dark, on a highly congested Trans-Canada Highway (see front page) in a 90 km/h zone?
Not really.
Is maniac too strong a term for someone who just can’t bear slower moving traffic in front of them and who resorts to making a pass on the left shoulder of the TCH, which then results in a multi-vehicle crash?
We don’t believe so.
How about for someone who absorbs hundreds of dollars in speeding tickets after being busted twice within the span of 20 minutes on the TCH?
Nah.
In all of these cases, it’s clear that, just like on deadly Highway 63 near Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, it’s not the road itself that’s the problem – it’s what is, or is not, in place in the cranium of many drivers.
The problem, clearly, is not one of road conditions, or of the necessity of twinning, as is being called for for the 63 – it’s the sense of entitlement that far too many drivers are cursed with. In so many cases, it’s the sense of entitlement, or of embracing the thrill of speeding, that causes so many near misses and deaths.
It’s amazing nobody was killed on the TCH over the long weekend.
In the case of Highway 63, a great hue and cry was raised, along with demands that something be done, just a short time ago, when seven people were killed in a head-on collision. In all, 46 people have died on the 63 since 2006.
Despite the horror of seven people losing their lives on the highway, though, police still found themselves writing hundreds of speeding tickets in the ensuing weeks; which proved drivers didn’t really take the issue of speed-related deaths to heart.
So, on the one hand, twinning Highway 63 might reduce the risk of head-on collisions by separating oncoming lanes of traffic, but wouldn’t twinning also open up more pavement for more speeders to really ‘open up’ their vehicles?
Is there an answer? Who knows?
Multiple deaths in a crash didn’t slow down speeders on Highway 63 even shortly after the fact. Speeding tickets ranging to hundreds of dollars doesn’t deter many motorists here in the Bow Valley. Speeders being hit a couple of times within an hour isn’t uncommon.
For many leadfoot, apparently, speeding tickets are simply the cost of embracing their reckless, overenthusiastic, “need for speed.”
If big hits to the wallet aren’t a deterrent and the imminent possibility of a fiery death in a crash isn’t a deterrent, what would be?
As a necessary “attitude adjustment” do we need to institute some kind of Draconian measures like on-the-spot, on-site impoundment of vehicles? Where, at a certain level of being over a given speed limit, a holiday, business trip, day run to the mountains or Sunday drive would be immediately halted, with the driver in question left on the side of the road to make their way home by other means?
Nobody wants to see further government intervention in our lives, but seriously, something has to be done.
