I know this is a huge cliche, but where did the people in this city learn to drive? Has anyone ever heard of defensive driving? Do they all forget what snow is every year?
I moved here last summer and have had more close calls than the last 5 years where I was living previously. I watched a guy almost kill a woman and her kids blowing through a stop line and into a crosswalk at a red light. I was almost hit the same way walking on Agricola. I had a bus miss me on my bike by about two feet after moving into traffic, from a stop, without signalling. I had a guy stop at a T-intersection, look both ways, then proceed to turn into my path anyways. To top it off, I was stopped on my bike single file (as the signs all say to do) waiting to enter a roundabout, behind two cars, when the guy behind me decided I was somehow holding him up. He revved his engine, and accelerated toward me twice, as if to run me over. I have no doubt he would have if I hadn’t gotten out of the way. He then almost hit another car after burning it through the roundabout.
Finally, please for the love of god do not stop for jaywalkers. No, it is not polite, it’s stupid, for so many reasons. Just don’t.
As driver, pedestrian, and a person who often commutes by bike, it feels like I’m taking my life in my hands every time I go out in this city. And no, it’s not the narrow streets, it’s the people behind the wheel. Get your head out of your ass, pay attention, and drive defensively. And use your fucking signal lights.
—Driving Is A Privilege
This article appears in Mar 8-14, 2018.
In the Glory Days here, motorists were far more law-abiding and considerate to cyclists and pedestrians. When the cost of taxes, gas, insurance, car payments and repairs continued to climb, motorists became possessive of the roads and rather psychopathic.
I can’t tell you how many times as a cyclist that a motorist – in an attempt to save 2 seconds off their drive home – put my life at risk. I will not mention objects that secure bicycles to stationary objects because that apparently is a bone of contention with some.
My solution is simple: if and when needed, I will ride in the middle of the road to ensure my own personal safety. If a motorist attempts to cut me off, I have sufficient room to my right to save myself.
To those who complain I say call the police. And don’t use nine-one-one… It’s not an emergency call the local dispatch.
As for pedestrians, I have no remedies for you but just a word of caution: your child is impeding the motorist by crossing at the crosswalk and costing them a precious five seconds off their commute.
I think it’s just the mentality and culture.
We never noticed it before because not this many people drove in Halifax.
But now that all the baby boomers who retired (the town is literally a sea of white,as in you look ahead and you see nothing but white hair), are driving more often now than they used to.
Combine that with the younger drivers, who were taught by their parents who were terrible drivers to begin with, provides this environment of terrible drivers.
No one is born a bad driver. It’s an acquired skill.