The carnage in recent years on our highways involving head-on collisions is indisputable proof of distracted and sleepy driving. Unsafe passing also plays a role, but to a lesser extent.
In the case of Veterans Memorial Highway, the RCMP says the problem is drivers, not the highway. Some people want passing lanes. Those with no concept of money would like to twin the highway. Others want to reduce the speed limit (yawn), which will slow down the minority of drivers and frustrate the rest.
Since it was recently revealed that the road maintenance budget has been transferred to ferries, there is obviously no budget for anything major. In recent years I have seen a growing number of jurisdictions milling a vibration strip between the two no-passing white lines on a two-lane highway. When a distracted driver drifts onto one of those, they have a major and immediate wake-up call. The vibration of four tires crossing one of these lines is severe enough to discourage some of the unsafe passing.
This concept is in use in Nova Scotia on the Trans-Canada Highway in non-twinned areas. I recently saw it in use in Arizona on a boring desert highway. I have also seen three milled vibration lines used across a highway in areas where speed limits are severely reduced, coming into residential or commercial areas.
In my opinion, Veterans Memorial is a good trial highway for these concepts, in strategic areas.
Jim Radford
Salmonier Line
