Date: 2008-02-29
Everyone knows how the old joke goes: “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.”
Well, here’s a new one: Why am I too chicken to cross the road at Lock and Lansdowne? Because I’m not sure I’ll make it to the other side.
Now, chicken isn’t a word I’d normally use to describe myself; I consider myself a pretty tough bird, having battled inner-city Toronto traffic for more than 15 years.
But then I moved to Peterborough. Ah, Peterborough. Land of shining waters. A canoe in every backyard. Courteous drivers waving me ahead inviting me to go in front of them – ‘after you,’ ‘oh no, please, after you.’
And not a single honk, as I admire the scenery, oblivious to the green light in front of me.
My husband and I quickly adapted and made a pact to leave the horn-honking, blood-pressure-raising racing habits to the drivers in Toronto.
So, back to the chicken crossing the road. Something happened that didn’t fit with my bucolic view of Peterborough roadways. I was almost hit by a car making a left turn in front of me as I was crossing the street. I dismissed it as a once-in-a-lifetime event. But then it happened again. And again. I know the driver saw me; after all I was walking towards him and we made eye contact. It wasn’t a safe (or legal) turn and he knew it. Maybe that’s why he was smiling?
When I took my complaint to City Hall’s traffic department, I started to see traffic in Peterborough in a new light.
Speaking with Peter Malin, transportation services co-ordinator for the City of Peterborough, he wasn’t at all surprised by my experience.
During the course of the conversation, Mr. Malin questioned my earlier comment about local drivers being courteous.
“Well, they don’t honk,” I said.
“No, they don’t honk,” he agreed, “but Peterborough drivers are very aggressive.”
I was surprised by his assessment – had I been driving with rose-coloured glasses all this time? – and asked him to explain.
“It’s based on calls I get from people like yourself,” he said and also, he added, from what he sees on the streets.
In Mr. Malin’s opinion, the most common traits are speeding, cutting drivers off and taking shortcuts through retail lots to avoid intersections.
As the supervisor of crossing guards, Mr. Malin has the advantage of additional eyes across the city. His department has just launched the “Don’t Let Your Guard Down” safety campaign reminding people to slow down and obey the guards.
He works closely with the Peterborough police when investigating complaints of aggressive driving and suggested I pass along my comments.
Sergeant John O’Grodnik, head of the traffic unit with the Peterborough police, wasn’t surprised by my chicken-crossing-the-road story.
“Lock and Lansdowne is certainly one of the bad ones,” he said, adding “the worst intersections are on Lansdowne due to sheer volume.”
He cited Ashburnham, Lock, and The Parkway as the most accident-prone locations in his mind, though the police don’t have formal statistics.
Traffic cop Constable Dave McFadden echoed the previous sentiments.
“That’s a horror show,” he said, referring to Lock and Lansdowne.
“We’ve had several bad accidents there.”
He also cited Water Street at the zoo as a bad intersection and Parkhill Road at several spots in the northwest.
Both Const. McFadden and Mr. Malin referred to last November’s radar blitz done on Parkhill Road at Crowley Crescent.
“In fall we had a request for an intersection pedestrian signal on Parkhill Road,” Mr. Malin said.
“We did some speed studies. They were speeding so much, [Sgt. O’Grodnik] sent his traffic unit there.”
A radar campaign was established, and according to Const. McFadden, they issued more than 200 speeding tickets in a month. For Const. McFadden, the problem is universal.
“Everyone seems to be in a hurry now and that seems to be a general way of life. We really notice it when we target a certain area.”
Overall, City officials agreed that Peterborough drivers were probably no more aggressive than those in any other city.
So can a driving population be courteous and aggressive at the same time? Const. McFadden assured me that not all drivers are speeding.
“We deal with 10 per cent of the drivers 90 per cent of the time.”
Issuing tickets, in his eyes, is educational as much as punitive. He just wants to avoid that walk up to someone’s house to tell them a loved one has been killed as a result of speeding.
“We’re trying to reduce the carnage out there.”
Personally, I’m going to follow up on Mr. Malin’s suggestion to initiate the process of tracking speeders on Lock Street and, in the meantime, get my newspaper somewhere else. So from now on, there’ll be one less chicken crossing the road at Lock and Lansdowne. Just doing my part to reduce the carnage.