March 25, 2008

I'd like to point out a poor driving habit that makes me crazy almost every day. Here are the facts:

I walk across Centrepointe every day, at least twice a day. I use the designated crosswalk near the Marshy's plaza and I usually push the button that makes the traffic lights go red for the cars (if there are no cars in sight, I just walk across without pushing the button). These traffic lights are the regular kind, with the red/yellow(amber)/green lights, not the big yellow crosswalk "X". So when cars are approaching the crosswalk, after I have pushed the button, they see the lights turn from green to amber and then to red. I haven't timed how long the lights stay red but it is for about one minute - long enough for a slow walker to get safely across. There are four lanes on the road along Centrepointe. Usually traffic travels in the centre two lanes and the outside lanes are used for turning onto roads that branch off of Centrepointe. However, at this crosswalk, a lot of the traffic travelling south makes a left hand turn into the plaza and so cars going straight trough go around them and into the right hand or curb lane. All of this is legal.

Here is what happens that makes me crazy:
After I push the button, I step a little to one side so that I can watch as the lights change from green to amber. Then I watch the approaching traffic. Almost without fail, every single car that approaches the crosswalk as the light turns amber continues through the crosswalk. Some of the cars even speed up a little so they won't get "caught" in the intersection as the light turns red. This in itself is illegal. (Check out section 114 of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act.)

What really burns me are the cars that proceed through the crosswalk AFTER the light has turned red. They do this because they can get way with it because no one has actually started to walk across the road and so they don't risk hitting the pedestrian who pushed the button. I experimented recently, watching the cars approach on the amber and I stepped into the road AFTER the light had gone red but while a car was still motoring through the crosswalk. The car was in the far lane from where I was and so we both knew I was not going to get hit but I got close enough to the car as it passed me (going through the red light) that I could have touched it if I'd run instead of walked.

This makes me crazy because the wait at the crosswalk is all of one minute (maybe less - I'll try to remember to time it one day). The driver of a car, who, by the way is sitting down in a nice warm box, has to wait an entire 60 seconds while some freezing pedestrian struggles across the road. Apparently that is too much to ask of drivers.

Here are the pertinent subsections of the Highway Traffic Act:
Amber light
s. 114 (15) Every driver approaching a traffic control signal showing a circular amber indication and facing the indication shall stop his or her vehicle if he or she can do so safely, otherwise he or she may proceed with caution. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 144 (15).

Penalty for disobeying red or amber light
s. 114 (31.2) Every person who contravenes subsection (15) or (18) is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $150 and not more than $500. 1998, c. 5, s. 26.

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90h08_e.htm

December 6, 2007

We're getting there with the clearing of snow for pedestrians. But we still need the snow blowers to come along and chew it up and spit it into trucks.

For some reason, this one little stretch of sidewalk in front of a building for handicapped folks was not cleared. The main exit to the handicapped busses is cleared (that's where I'm standing) but not the sidewalk leading over to the marked crosswalk.

Up at the crosswalk itself, the banks have been completely cleared away so you can cross the street where the lights are. I snapped this photo when I did to catch the cyclist braving his way down Centrepointe.

Finally, the walk signal has meaning!

Out behind our house, it is apparent that we won't be needing the air conditioner for a while. The pot perched on top of it normally holds a candle in the summer, and hides among the leaves of whatever herbs I'm growing in the garden.

In spite of not needing the air conditioner, Peter is still out there, bravely barbequing for his summer-starved wife.

December 4, 2007

A little more snow overnight and then we got wind and now we have drifts.
The weather people on the internet say we got "21.2 mm" of precipitation, which I believe should be 21 cm of snow. That's 8.3 inches for non-metric types. Seems like more.

Don't try to get across the street at this crosswalk - not only can you not walk on the sidewalk because of the drift, and can you not reach the button for the walk signal, you couldn't make it over the snow bank to get onto the street.

And even if you made it over that snow bank, you'd be faced with this one on the other side. Thank goodness there are the all-important cars that get things plowed for them first, so you can use the driveways and entrances into malls.

At the short-cut through Plunkett, the snow has been piled high and blocks a paved path.

People have trampled a narrow path around the snow piles but I may start walking out another way.

Fortunately, the main link between Castlebrook and Plunkett has been plowed this year, for the first time in years. It's sort of no-man's-land but someone has got the message that people use it and now it has been plowed. Thanks!

I thought this little snow drift was perfectly shaped, except it must make it difficult for the resident dog to get out!

November 22, 2007 "First snow"

Yesterday was the first day we had snow this season, but I didn't get the photos up until today. And then there was more snow.

Yesterday was slightly warmer and we had less snow than today. The skateboard park was quiet and empty. The slopes aren't long enough the attract people with sleds.

When I walked by the split in the bike path in the morning, nothing had been shovelled and there was evidence that at least one person had braved the conditions on his bicycle.

Later in the day however, both sections of the path had been plowed. This seems unusual to me because I don't remember ever having seen the branch of the path that heads toward the river cleared of snow in the past. I wonder if there was a new snow clearing person and they just wandered off down the path without knowing it wasn't part of their job?

Later, when I got to the corner of Woodroffe and Navaho, I saw the usual mess that has prompted me to buy waterproof boots. There are street plows and sidewalk plows and they don't seem to coordinate with each other, so snow piles up on the corners, right where pedestrians need to cross the street. Then when it is mild, a giant deep puddle forms because the snow is blocking the drains.

In addition, as I pointed out earlier, the poles that have the buttons on them to push so you get the "walk" signal, are surrounded by dirt which turns into mud and here is evidence of that.

Even though it was mild, the maintenance folks at OC Transpo had been out distributing more salt than you can imagine. I know they don't want to have people fall but this is ridiculous. And couldn't they use sand, as it is far less corrosive than the salt? When I had a dog, I couldn't walk the poor thing anywhere near the bus stop because the salt would hurt the pads of its feet.

When I left the house this morning, I saw bunny tracks on the driveway in the fresh snow. This is common all winter long but I always find it a pleasant sight. Still, I worry about where these bunnies spend their winter.

I walked by that abandoned chair, making a mental note to remember later when it disappears (finally).

Then I passed this flurry of footprints in the parking lot. It seems to be a combination of pigeon and rabbit tracks and they organize around some sort of food that left crumbs.

It was good and windy and still snowing when I walked home, and I wondered if the conditions met the criteria for a blizzard. They didn't. I looked "blizzard" up first at dictionary dot com and it said a blizzard has to have sustained winds of at least 56 kph and visibility has to be reduced to less than 400 metres. The Wikipedia article (at the link above) says the winds have to be 40 kph, visibility has to be less than a kilometre and this has to last for at least 4 hours. In any event, I don't think this will rate as a blizzard.

October 24, 2007

I often wonder when I see something like this can, standing upright in a parking lot. Did the owner put it on the ground while getting in the car, only to forget it and drive off? I've done that, with things on the roof too! It was still there when I walked home after 1 pm, but then it was lying on its side.

It was after 8:30 am when I walked by the construction site and nothing was happening behind the fence.

But when I turned and looked north, I saw that the sidewalk and the west lane were blocked.

On the way home, the blockage had moved to the middle of the road and cars were driving around the obstruction on either side.

Speaking of roads, I took a photo of the street corner at Woodroffe and Navajo but it is typical of many corners on the big roads. In order the push the Walk button, you have to reach over the mud. Or, if you can't reach, you have to step in the mud. Perhaps some pavement could be applied to the bare area around the post? I am convinced that in spite of Walk buttons and such, streets are not designed for pedestrians at all. Another case in point...

This is the corner kitty-corner to the last one. There, at least the pole is right beside the pavement. However, in the winter, snow gets piled up against the pole and eventually, a pedestrian cannot reach the Walk button unless she climbs up the snow pile. Wait for pictures in months to come.

I liked this view of the library with the nice tree in front. You can just barely see the top of the Nepean bell in the centre of the circle with the tree, although you can see its support. (You can click on a photo, go to Flickr and then see it larger.)

Finally, as I was crossing in the Castlebrook Village from Plunkett, I thought the fallen leaves looked awfully pretty, blanketing the ground like that.