Driving in the rain is not fun for me. Driving at night in the rain is stressful for me. Driving at night in the rain on most BC roads is terrifying for me. Why? Because almost all of the highways and roads in the lower mainland lack one tiny yet huge safety feature; Raised Pavement Markers (RPMs) or 'cat eyes' as they are commonly known.
On one occasion this past fall, I was driving to work from North Vancouver to Langley on Highway 1 at 5am. Pitch dark, heavy heavy rain like I haven't seen for a long time around here, and almost no visibility what with the rain, road spray and the lack of proper markers. I was absolutely terrified. And if you think I am exaggerating; one of our lead cast pulled off of the highway, called production, and told them she refused to drive another inch and needed someone from transport to come and get her. And if you think it was just wimpy women drivers; the talk at breakfast by all crew - male and female alike - was the horrific drive in and how we all managed to arrive without getting into an accident.
Granted, the highway has been under major construction for the past three years as it is widened and a new bridge added at the river, and this has led to old lines being ground off and new ones added as the lanes have shifted and changed leaving it VERY difficult to determine, at night, which lines are the correct ones as the old lines still appear in headlights and criss cross over the new ones and you really can't tell which is which. I am a defensive driver and I am always looking a mile or more down the road to see what I am heading towards. In the conditions I have described, my vision is fixed in the 10 feet in front of my car, constantly making sure I am in the right place. There could be a 50 car pile-up ahead of me and I wouldn't realize it until I made it 51.
I am sick and tired of the stress of driving in the dark, in the rain on our roads. So I have started a petition on-line to the BC Ministry of Transportation to add RPMs to our highways and roads. If you live in BC or even visit it from time to time, please sign this petition. My goal is 100,000 signatures.
The addition of RPMs on our roads in not a luxury. In the sort of weather that is typical to BC (rain) and our long winter nights, its a necessity. I aim to make this happen. The link to the site is in the highlighted portion of the above paragraph or you can sign it right from this page by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.
Thank you!
Wow! That sounds nasty. We have some dark roads around here, too, but generally they are not highways. I hope your petition gets some action.
ReplyDeleteThe highways in WA state are so much better lit with reflective paint and RPMs than they are here in BC. Your highways are better by far because they are poured concrete where ours are blacktop and that wears down from all of the heavy truck traffic. It also cracks and potholes in freezing weather. It's useless for a freeway.
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