Dangerous Drivers on Crowsnest Highway
I have driven on the Crownest Highway (Highway #3) many times, but this weekend was particularly bad for dangerous drivers.
As many drivers of the highway know, the road is a two lane highway with passing lanes every so often up until Taber, where the road splits into a four lane highway to Lethbridge. I was on the way to Lethbridge on September 12 and suddenly found myself in a clump of a dozen or so vehicles. Most of the would-be passers were stuck at the back of the line and in my rear-view mirror I could see them weaving this way and that trying to see if there was room enough to pass. Some drivers even went so far as to cross the solid yellow line into the oncoming traffic’s passing lanes to get ahead of the crowd.
Like most people, I dislike tailgaters. I dislike them even more when I am going over the speed limit and they still tailgate. As both an encouragement for them to pass, safety for myself, and my 14 year old Neon’s struggling ability to accelerate quickly, I usually coast down to about 10 under the limit. This usually results in people honking horns, flipping me off or yelling at me as they pass, or doing “WTF” hand gestures (which is hilarious to watch in the rear-view mirror).
I also dislike when someone attempts to pass me or someone ahead of me and they hit the gas pedal to do so, then quickly go back into the right lane, nearly cutting off the person they just passed and then hitting the brakes because they are going too fast and could bump into the person ahead of them.
The moral of the story is that a lot of people drive unsafely on two lane highways and it is most apparent when there is a bunch of cars that are unpassable from oncoming traffic, so think and act smart before you end up laying on the side of the road with flashing blue and red lights.
Like Bert and Gert said in the 1990’s: “Stay Alert, Stay Safe!”
September 16th, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Dean says:
We live on Southview Dr SE just past Southview School towards Carry Dr and we are constantly amazed by the number of drivers who ignore the school/playground speed limit. Tail-gaiting someone observing the speed limit demonstrates an amazingly high driver IQ.
When 6 or 7-year-olds are expressing their carefree innocence and run down the middle of the street, the onus is on the drivers not to make roadkill of them. Some speed limits are in place for a good reason.
September 16th, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Sean says:
I live down Southview Drive as well, and I usually back down to 40kph when people tailgate me while doing 50 (before the school zone).
The onus is on drivers to follow the road signs and not run over anyone, but even so, 6-7 year olds shouldn’t be carefreely running down the street and should be learning what’s right and wrong. There is a field by the Southview School that they can run in, though it is like 80% ant hills. If kids in Medicine Hat are anything like me and Vaughn as kids (or while in high school), pitting red ants against black ants is more fun than fast cars.