Posts Tagged ‘Highway #3’
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).
Echo Dale is a recreational park located about 15-20 minutes outside Medicine Hat that entertains thousands of people each summer. The park sports a large outdoor swimming hole that neighbours both a pond and the South Saskatchewan River, as well as a farm that, during summer, offers tours and a petting zoo. There is a walking and biking path runs around the swimming hole, pond, farm and leads out of Echo Dale to a starting point located at the Gas City Campground.
The swimming hole is surrounded half by a sandy beach and half by grass with Volleyball nets located near the shore and a few picnic tables. The Ajax Building offers food, drink, changerooms, washroom services and is located near the parking lot.
The nearby pond has paddleboats for rent, many picnic tables and barbecue pits, and fish for fishing.
The Echo Dale Farm is a restored farm that acts as a reflection into what rural life was like in the 1900’s. There is a farm house, a barn, blacksmith shop, a mine, and animals that are kept there during the summer. More information about the farm can be found on the Echo Dale Farm Society website. The website is no longer operational.
Echo Dale can be located by heading down Highway #3 towards Lethbridge and taking a right by the Spitz sunflower seed factory, then just follow the signs. It is definitely the place to head if you are looking for some fun in the sun.
So, there I was, merging onto the #1 from the overpass by The Medicine Hat College. There was a police officer next to me and as I began to merge he was not slowing down or speeding up to let me go in front or behind him. So I tapped the gas to get in front just as he begins to go into the right lane to go onto 13th. He pulls back and turns his lights on, drag. I was not speeding by enough to warrant a ticket, so what else could it be? He says “You did not signal”, which is like impossible (like as in, one in a billion amount of times I will forget it, since I am a very signal, mirror, shoulder checking type of person – usually). Although in thinking back, I did not see him signaling, but whatever. He checked my signal light, and it was working.
So in the way that funny stories go, he says “You have a nice car”. Oddly enough, I have been pulled over so rarely that it is years in between, and despite having probably the most recognizable car in Alberta/Saskatchewan (probably), it has never been the reason I have been pulled over in the past. He checks my insurance and it turns out that it is out of date. Double drag. But he calls it in and of course it is valid. He seems to be a good guy about it and polite as well, and not a jerk, something most people would contrarily attest to, and not without warrant, because usually cops seem all too happy to write out some tickets as opposed to realizing people are fallibly human. This one time I was going like 7kph over the limit at 11pm on Highway #3, got pulled over, cop asks why I was speeding, I said “I do not have cruise control and sometimes my foot eases on and off the gas ever so slightly”. Apparently that is not a good reason, and 7kph over on the loneliest of roads is a hazard to everyone around me.
He comes back to my car, we talk a bit, and in saying I am from Saskatchewan and only recently changed my plates over to Alberta plates. Insurance is way different there, which he agreed with and even said he liked Saskatchewan’s system better (diss to expensive Alberta insurance), he did not give me a ticket for either offense.
Long story short, most of the time police officers seem to hand out tickets without reason other than “because”, but sometimes it is not entirely a bad experience.