Dear Editor,
I would like to bring attention to the epidemic I am seeing take place in residential areas of our town, particularly in areas around our schools. That epidemic is people speeding well above the speed limit.
I do not understand this need to speed in residential areas, where children can make a mistake, step out and the vehicle has no chance whatsoever of stopping, especially when speeding well above the limit. I can drive from one end of Sylvan to the other in five minutes. So why, then, do people need to speed, especially in neighbourhoods near schools. Is saving a minute worth what I faced one day — a day I have never forgotten and the essence of why I wrote this?
One summer day, I witnessed a speeder hit a child in a residential area, years ago in Edmonton. The child, a boy about seven or eight, did three 360s in the air and hit the pavement, dead. The child did not even stand a chance, and the driver who was speeding well above the limit, thought it could never happen to him.
The sound of that collision gave my wife and I nightmares for months. The driver’s life was destroyed, and the child was dead. I have never seen someone as broken as that driver was — you have to see it to understand it. To this day that accident is the most disturbing thing I have ever seen, something no one would ever want to see.
Ironically, when I see someone coming down my street speeding, I motion downwards. Some politely wave and I smile and say thank you. Sadly, however, most give me the finger and scream obscenities not fit to type, as if I'm infringing on their rights.
This is not always young people either. A man over 60 gave me the bird the other day. We all make mistakes I get that. God bless those who can accept an error of judgement and smile and say, hey thanks, and wave when it is brought to their attention.
All I care about are the lives of children — precious children who depend on US to compensate for their mistakes as they learn. Children are impulsive, and make mistakes. All I am asking is for people to stop and think, is it worth it? I cannot imagine how I would feel if I took out a child while trying to save a minute or two of my time.
PLEASE, believe me — the odds are small, but it is not worth the two minutes speeding may save you.
We all know or have children we love. Let us all work together and make the streets safer.
Jack Harkness,
Sylvan Lake