Editor:
The following letter was sent to BC Minister for Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Fleming and shared with Coast Reporter.
On Friday afternoon, Sept. 23, I had the misfortune of exiting the ferry at Langdale just after 1500 hours only to spend one hour travelling the 30 kms to Sechelt. Why so long, you might ask?
1. Failure for “doddlers” to keep to the right up the ferry hill and allow vehicles to utilize the passing lane.
2. Failure for the same doddlers to drive the very modest 80 km speed limit, except in passing zones, between Gibsons and Sechelt, forcing countless cars to follow at speed averaging 50 kms/hr.
3. Stop and go traffic slowed to a crawl by a garbage truck blocking the lane from ts’ukw’um to Sechelt while picking up weekly, residential garbage.
Proposed Solutions:
Police enforcement of “keep right except to pass” on the hill.
Introduce a bylaw emulating that existing in Washington State: “If you are holding up four or more vehicles while driving under the speed limit, you must pull over and let them pass.”
Insist that garbage pickup on Highway 101 does not interfere with ferry traffic by scheduling pickup at night or in off hours. Inconveniencing one truck driver versus hundreds of vehicle drivers and their passengers seems a small price to pay.
I will leave the need for a total highway upgrade for another day.
Sincerely,
Gordon Politeski, Sechelt
