Every winter, drivers across the region have to battle poor winter driving conditions and too many of them are putting themselves and others at risk.
Despite calls by police and emergency responders for drivers to use caution, slow down and adjust their driving habits, far too many drivers still hit the local highways at full speed, mindless of any risk involved to them or anyone else.
Since we are a four-season nation, most drivers are used to driving in various weather conditions throughout the year.
The fact that winter can start in October and carry through until April has most drivers willing to take to the open road even when conditions are not ideal because the alternative is to stay close to home for weeks on end.
It’s understandable that people still need to get around even during the winter months but what is becoming increasingly ridiculous is the number of drivers who take to the roads when conditions are poor at best. Weather reports, road reports and warnings from police seem to have little impact on a growing percentage of our population who seem to believe as long as they can drive, they should.
Just because you made it to town during the last go around with bad roads, and maybe the time before and the time before that, doesn’t mean the next time won’t result in the loss of life or at the very minimum a crashed vehicle.
Just because you can make it into town or to work regardless of the road conditions doesn’t mean you should.
A multi-vehicle collision north of Coaldale Monday morning is a prime example of why some drivers in our region need to re-think their driving habits and their skill level. There are far too many drivers who think they are better drivers than they actually are.
There are also too many drivers who are not equipped to handle winter driving conditions and should think twice about venturing out when conditions begin to deteriorate. Not only are drivers putting themselves at risk when they drive during poor weather conditions but they are also putting emergency personnel at risk.
When the call comes in to respond to a collision, emergency personnel have no choice but to respond even if road conditions put them in harms way.
Far too often emergency personnel on the scene of a collision have to scramble to get out of the way from approaching vehicles who are still driving too fast for highway conditions.
Just because the speed limit is posted at 100 km/h doesn’t mean drivers have to drive that speed limit in any and all weather and road conditions. In an effort to protect emergency workers the decision is now being made more often to close down highways when there has been a collision.
Maybe this winter police should consider more road closures if drivers can’t seem to handle the responsibility of winter road conditions.