Stop-sign enforcement is not a police priority
Re: “Enforce traffic light and cycling regulations,” letter, April 30.
I offer three critical reasons why VicPD should not waste their limited resources on stop-sign enforcement.
First, the Idaho Stop, whereby cyclists treat red lights as stop signs, and stop signs as yields was first enacted (surprise!) in Idaho in 1982. It is now the law in 12 states and has been shown to reduce collisions at intersections by up to 23 per cent. Fundamentally, the practice of cyclists rolling stop signs is safer than what the law is in B.C.
Second, I wonder if the letter-writer has noticed that motorists rarely come to a complete stop, either? Research has shown that drivers and cyclists break traffic rules at the same rates (we’re all human), however while drivers break the rules to save time, cyclists break the rules to save lives.
A study of 18,000 people (Journal of Transport and Land Use; reported in Forbes) showed that cyclists usually break traffic laws to get out of the way of the often-deadly vehicles that are pervasive on our city streets.
Finally, global traffic safety leader The Netherlands avoids this problem altogether by designing intersections using roundabouts instead of stop signs, which are safer for all users including motorists.
VicPD should only enforce cyclists rolling stop signs if they enforce drivers equally. However, we should solve this problem without policing by building roundabouts wherever possible when roads are rebuilt.
Ben Cowie
Saanich
Make space available for their belongings
The homeless would benefit from having a place to store their belongings on a day-to-day basis so that they can feel that their belongings are safe and can then pursue employment opportunities or attempt to register for housing, etc.
Why hasn’t the City of Victoria been as aggressive in making this facility available for the homeless population, as they have been with providing the bicycle valet service?
The city could easily open a larger facility, as Our Place has, with larger storage facilities per person. People could register their names and if their property is not claimed or they don’t renew their storage lockers on a monthly basis, the items can be destroyed or relocated.
This would apparently be a huge help for the homeless who want to find a job and housing and have a secure place to leave their belongings.
Ernie Kuemmel
Oak Bay
Too much excitement for our seniors
The erotic film festival’s Victoria stop has been cancelled. Young people will be disappointed no doubt, but this decision is in the best interest of Victoria’s thousands of seniors.
For health reasons, many of us cannot handle too much excitement.
Cheera J. Crow
Brentwood Bay
Make corporations pay for outreach workers
There seems to be a concentration of street disorder surrounding fast-food outlets and convenience stores in downtown Victoria.
I’m sure these billion-dollar corporations aren’t deliberately targeting street populations, but they definitely attract them and make sales to them.
Maybe it’s time for fast-food outlets and convenience stores to spend some of their profits on outreach workers at these locations.
Instead of spending solely on security guards, they could add personnel who are trained to help, support and provide alternatives for street populations. All levels of government and non-governmental organizations are already working toward solutions. It’s time for corporations to do their part.
Bruce Chambers
Victoria
After the crash, we need to help the pilot
Re: “Drug-decriminalization pilot will continue, premier says,” April 30.
And I say, the aircraft has crashed; let’s get the pilot out!
Bhree A. Young
Sidney
To rent or buy? Renting might be a better choice
The idea of house ownership is fraught. The only need to own a house is if its value increases.
It was only in the 1970s that house values increased dramatically, first in Europe and then in Canada, only in Canada to have a drastic turndown in the early 1980s, which caused many bankruptcies.
Currently, house prices continue to rise, but the chances of an increase in bank rates could easily kill off the real estate market, and house owners will suffer.
Renting can often be a safer route than ownership, ignoring inflation.
The problem is who knows, and ignorant governments don’t help.
G.R. Greig
Victoria
Time to start working on the Island rail line
I am amazed that the issue of Island rail has not been debated on the floor of Parliament.
I am a proponent to see the rail line rehabilitated and used for transportation, which would see a significant decrease of vehicular traffic and its attendant fuel emissions on the Malahat Highway.
To give some perspective, France runs a busy, underground train line 225 kilometres long. London’s is 400 kilometres.
What would be the cost of remediating our above-ground line?
We should also include the positive monetary impact that visitors to the Island would contribute to the coffers of government.
This is not simply a rail line left to deteriorate as it is now. It is shameful that no one in a position of power has taken the reins to restore the line. It could be electrified, further reducing our footprint so often referred to.
Eric J. Ronse
Shawnigan Lake
Try critical thinking before a protest
I am somewhat confused and astounded about all the protests taking place against Israel across America and parts of Canada when it was Israel who was attacked.
Where are all the protests against Russia for attacking Ukraine, who did nothing to provoke an attack? And now even threatening Belarus.
Is critical thinking no longer valued or practised in our universities?
Irene Potter
Port Alberni
Longer amortization will not help much
As a former real-estate agent, I am always interested when the government announces items connected to real estate. The recent announcement that they would allow 30-year mortgage amortization in some cases to help with affordability is another in a long series of decisions that will have little to no effect.
I checked on my mortgage spreadsheet. I set up a mortgage for $430,000 at six per cent (semi-annual compounding). No particular reason for these numbers, this is just for illustration purposes.
At 25-year amortization, the monthly payment would be $2,751.17.
At 30-year amortization, the monthly payment would be $2,557.74.
Obviously, that’s a little better than the 25-year amortization, but, really, what difference does that make? Maybe a few people could squeeze into qualifying who couldn’t under the 25-year amortization, but only a few.
To extend the exercise, I recalled how in Japan they had an experiment with 99-year or 100-year amortizations. (The grandkids would pay it off, the theory goes.) My understanding is they have given up on this experiment, but consider these numbers:
At 50-year amortization, the monthly payment would be $2,240.17.
At 100-year amortization, the monthly payment would be $2,129.37.
Maybe that $600 difference between a 25-year amortization and the 100-year amortization might help with qualifying, but … are we seriously thinking of doing something like that?
Wouldn’t there be other serious consequences to that kind of long-term indebtedness? Probably an interest-only mortgage would work almost as well. Just pay interest, and never pay it off. (An infinity amortization.)
We need to go back to the drawing board. We need better solutions. (That also probably means better politicians.)
Pastor Don Johnson
Grace Baptist Church of Victoria (Independent)
Q’shintul Mill Bay Nature School should be saved
It’s been four weeks of working as hard as we can to save Q’shintul Mill Bay Nature School, with the Parent Advisory Council in a solid stance of protection and support for our families as well as for everyone who needs to know about the needed repair to the school district consultation process.
We have been waiting in an intense uncertainty to talk with the trustees who haven’t responded to us for four weeks.
While simultaneously going through a mental-health marathon, we have found that the basis of their decision being around population growth is not backed by accurate information, that the decision to end our program has no data to back it up, and there has been no sharing of information to explain how they came to this decision.
We asked district trustees if they knew that our late elder, a residential school survivor, described QMBNS as a place of healing for both Indigenous and settler people to practise reconciliation in action.
We also asked if they knew of the plan to force-transfer out our teachers, giving them and our children one month and a half to transition? Do they understand that we are in a village of attachment that doesn’t want to be separated?
My eight-year-old son doesn’t want his school to be forcefully closed and is angry and upset. He says “What, are they out of their minds?” and he thinks that the decision makers “aren’t using their brains properly.”
Erin Ward
QMBNS PAC committee member
Mill Bay
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