Editor:
Last week’s letter in the Outlook from a couple from Scotland for the installation of speed cameras in the park resonates with many of us who have long awaited the same thing.
I am also tired of Parks Canada’s rhetoric regarding their frustration with roadside bear mortality. All we hear is a call for motorists to “maintain speeds and keep an eye open for roadside wildlife.”
Along with recommending, hoping and urging is not going to slow drivers of any vehicle or motorcycle in or out of our national parks. Speed is the norm on major highways in our communities and they more or less get away with it. More enforcement and resources are needed.
Something has to change now to slow down traffic, not only for other drivers’ safety, but for our wildlife. I can drive a whole week between Banff and Canmore and not see a single enforcement officer.
Why is the suggestion for cameras as a speed management tool not being considered? These cameras are fixed and not photo radar and the revenue would pay for additional enforcement. Is it because Parks is worried the money will go to federal government coffers?
The speed on the Trans-Canada Highway, the Bow Valley Parkway, Highway 93 to Radium and Highway 40 through Kananaskis is totally out of control.
I would like someone to explain to me why speed cameras are not being considered. Drivers who disregard public safety and respect for wildlife have not developed a kinship to our natural world or for the needs of wildlife. It is all about me… me … me ... and myself.
Drivers coming out of Banff pass me on the right in a merge lane. I’m constantly being tailgated, usually by males in large pickup trucks. I’ve been hollered at to “Get the f*** out of my way.” Motorcyclists speed with impunity along Bow Valley Parkway.
These aggressive drivers need to be ticketed, fined and vehicles impounded on a larger scale. I agree, along with others, the time has come for a different approach to speed management on our public roads and highways. More discussion on this issue would be appreciated.
Eileen Patterson,
Banff
