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Resident sickened by results of speeding driver

Tonight - July 11, 2012 - I saw a scene that made me sick.

Dear Editor,

Tonight - July 11, 2012 - I saw a scene that made me sick.

As I got up from trying to relax I heard a vehicle approaching quickly. I looked out in time to see a black chevy pickup fly past my house, try to make a turn and end up in the neighbour’s yard (just a few feet from the neighbor’s house) — the police were in pursuit.

Unfortunately I can attest to the fact that seeing vehicles speeding past my house is NOT out of the norm. I see it on a daily basis, you can go for two houses before hitting another stop sign. There are children who play on the road, my fiance and I take walks on the sidewalk, our neighbour works hard to keep his yard beautiful.

I moved to this town one year ago because it always seemed like such a beautiful town — people were so nice, and of course there’s the lake. Now that I live here, I can’t wait to get out.

We have made numerous (sometimes twice daily) complaints about people speeding past our home. I’ve given license plate numbers, vehicle descriptions, driver descriptions, at all hours of the day and night.

I know it’s not just this neighbourhood because we used to live on 47th right by Scotiabank and it was to the point we couldn’t sleep. We moved off the main street in hopes of enjoying our home.

I understand that Sylvan Lake is a tourist town and that in the summer especially, the population rises. I totally get that. I get that the RCMP are understaffed, I fully understand. But when we make numerous complaints of people going over 60 km/h something should be done.

I’ve even offered my driveway to the police to sit in it, totally hidden, to hand out tickets. I will gladly park on the street for them to park in my driveway for a couple hours. Guaranteed, within one hour they could hand out probably 20-30 tickets for speeding.

This was an absolutely sickening scene. I’m terrified thinking there could be people standing on that sidewalk, there could be children, the neighbour could have been working in his yard!

How many times does this have to happen? How many lives need to be endangered and possibly lost? What do the residents of Sylvan Lake have to do to be able to enjoy their own homes without the threat of being killed by an out-of-control driver?

As I was sitting in my bedroom, watching this scene unfold, I saw that the driver had fled, the police caught him, then I heard the other kids talking about it right across the street and they were excited about this!

They were bragging to each other that the driver was arrested and they weren’t! They were caught up in the fact that they were going over 80 km/h while they turned and they didn’t flip the truck. I wonder how the parents are going to take the news of their son’s behaviour.

My thoughts go out to those parents. My thoughts go out to my neighbour who now has to fix his yard after he’s worked so hard and probably won’t sleep well for quite some time after almost having someone drive through his house.

I hope town council and Sylvan Lake RCMP have some sort of conscience. I hope the RCMP think the next time someone calls in to complain, and I hope something is done before our lives are ended by stupidity.

Sylvan Lake is a small town. We shouldn’t have this in a small town — we should never be afraid to walk down our own streets in fear of being run over in the midst of a high speed pursuit.

Cynthia Randall

- a sickened citizen,

Sylvan Lake

Editor’s Note: This incident took place about 9 p.m. in the area of 45th Street and 46th Avenue. A 24 year old driver from Sylvan Lake was charged with impaired and dangerous driving and fleeing from police, according to RCMP Sgt. Michelle Boutin.