Sharing the Road - Focus of Upcoming Conference - Opinion 250 - News for Northern and Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada

Sharing the Road - Focus of Upcoming Conference

Tuesday, October 02, 2007 03:56 AM

RoadHealth will be holding a second conference on diriving issues. The two day conference is set for October 16th and 17th and this time the theme will be "Sharing the Road."

This is a follow up to the "CrossRoads Conference" that was held in October of 2005. That conference brought together industry, government, and the public to duscuss road safety issues in Northern B.C. At that time, Dr. David Bowering, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Health, also released his report "CrossRoads: Chief Medical Health Officer Report on Motor Vehicle Crashes." Stats show, people who live in this part of the province are more than twice as likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash than those who live in other parts of the province.

Since that time, several initiatives have been launched to reduce the number of crashes in northern B.C.

The Conference this month will bring together local government leaders, resource industry representatives, government, and the public, to address the risks and problems faced by northern drivers in their day-to-day interaction or interface with large industrial vehicles. As the north’s resource extraction industry expands, so too does the amount of industrial traffic moving through the main streets of towns like Burns Lake, Telkwa, Quesnel and so on. The opening of the inland container port in Prince George will see a huge increase in container truck traffic on the highways as well.

Dr Bowering will be releasing his 2007 update to the CrossRoads Report at the conference, which will compare current statistics to those of 2005. As well, there will be speakers and panels on a number of issues including: the use of technology, driver health & wellness, sharing the road with industry and media messaging.

The free, two day conference will take place at the Prince George Civic Centre and is open to all members of the public.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 03:56 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on October 2 2007 7:52 AM

Road rage and impatience, not industrial traffic is the core of the problem.

I saw spectacular case at the interesection of Johnson and Airport Road. This "lady" in a beat up Topaz, following a tourist, was just pounding on the steering wheel! I was so surprised I couldn't stop in time to take her picture.

Posted by: owl on October 2 2007 8:26 AM

"Stats show, people who live in this part of the province are more than twice as likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash than those who live in other parts of the province."

Interesting. Am I the only one that ever asks the question why when such stats are put forward?

I always find that when we know why, we can best determine how to try to tackle the problem rather than running blind.

With regards to road rage, what causes it? Seeing a trucker tailgating you when you are going 95km/hr in a 100km/hr might cause it for some. Or sitting behind a trucker who is trying to pass another trucker on an uphill and first passing lane in 30 km might cause it in others.

Or simply being in a bitchy mood ..... who knows.

Posted by: northman on October 2 2007 8:28 AM

"Sharing the road" heres and idea for the govt to ponder, how about upgrading roads to handle the increased volumes of traffic that we have now. I wish they would quit talking about it and actually start breaking some ground. What happend to the cariboo connector? campbells pipe dream of a 4 lane from Cache Creek To PG?Wasnt that suppost to be done by now and please correct me if im wrong.

Posted by: owl on October 2 2007 8:58 AM

Yes you are wrong .... that was about a 50 year project ...... a nice gift to your grandkids ..... likely by that time they will have to rebuild whatever they built to a new standard.

Posted by: diplomat on October 2 2007 10:06 AM

All streets/roads in Prince George are 50km/h unless posted otherwise. If you go 50km/h in a 50km/h zone (5th, 10th, 15th for example) you will be tailgated relentlessly.

Sometimes you will get the one finger salute!

Even if you go 60km/h you will still be tailgated.

The only good thing about all that tailgating (which is called *coercion* in legal terms) is that when you speed up trying to shake them off and you get pulled over and get a ticket - the tailgater will most certainly stop and volunteer to pay your speeding fine for you!

(Chuckle).

Oh, the police will never pull over the tailgater, of course.

Posted by: Buzz on October 2 2007 11:04 AM

Diplomat: A guy I used to know needed a repair done on his old station wagon rear window/door. He planned this all out...waited until a tailgater hounded him in a school zone; slammed on his brakes (bracing himself first), let the guy hit him, and told the cop: "I thought I saw a kid inbetween the parked cars so I hit the brakes". The cop said "no problem sir...the other guy is at fault". Even though I was a bit P.O'd as it's really all of us who had to pay the bill (re: ICBC fees), I couldn't help but be somewhat amused and happy that at least one tailgater had been nailed!

Posted by: diplomat on October 2 2007 2:31 PM

Well, at least one hopes that the tailgater learned a well-deserved lesson!

I had occasions when I slammed on the brakes to quickly slow down for a bathtub sized pothole which I had not spotted before - the vehicle that follows too closely will be at fault for rear ending me!

Rule is minimum 1 car length for every 10km/h under ideal conditions, more when its wet, snowing or icy.