Tag Archives: Death Race 2000

To Park Or Not To Park

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I am not anti-entrepreneurial although I do like saying the phrase out loud. Anti-entrepreneurial. Kind of rolls off the tongue.

Unlike some of my statist, collectivist, ivory tower academian comrades here at All Fired Up in the Big Smoke, I have dallied in the arena of small business at various times in my life. Import/export. Sales of commemorative bric-a-brac. There was even that time in my youth when I financed a year+ tour of the United States exclusively through sperm donations.

So I am down with my business brethren especially the small variety. They are the backbone of our economic system and the lifeblood of any vital, vibrant community. As go small businesses, so goes society. And to hear a local west end B.I.A. (Business Improvement Area) tell it, as goes parking, so goes small business, etc., etc.

Seems that for the past couple years there has been a tussle going on between the Dundas West B.I.A., the TTC and the city over street parking along a strip of Dundas Street West. Business owners claim that the elimination of almost all parking during rush hour traffic along the drag hurts their businesses. The TTC contends that street parking during the busy times hinders them from delivering quality service. Anybody who’s ever traveled that section of road by whatever mode and at almost any time of day will tell you it’s always a mess.

Still, one has to wonder about the value of a business that is dependant on a customer base that is only willing to patronize it if they can throw out the anchors and park right in front of the establishment in question. Your product might not really possess that strong a draw if customer loyalty is so anemic that when forced to so much as walk around a corner, they can’t be bothered. Make better bread or provide a more interesting circus and customers will find their way to your shop regardless of where they have to park their cars.

— helpfully submitted by Urban Sophisticat

Back Into The Trenches, Weary Soldiers Fighting The War On Cars

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The truce, it would seem, is now over.

Making my way home yesterday afternoon from my weekly outing to the health food store to replenish a flax seed supply that had grown surprisingly low… that is, if something can actually grow low… I’m mindfully crossing a busy street at a designated crosswalk, having done all that I’m required to do as a pedestrian save pointing. It is a gesture I refuse to do. How much more obvious do I have to be, motorists? I’ve pressed the button to activate the overhead flashing lights. I’ve stood dutifully still at the curb, waiting to make sure that oncoming drivers have noticed me and slowed down to a stop. Do I really have to point in the direction that’d I’d like to go as well? Is there really any question in your mind as to what my next move is going to be?

Besides, I don’t think my pointing was going to prevent what happened next.

As I start to cross the street, a streetcar has stopped to the north of me to let off some passengers. Subconsciously that means I can relax as no vehicles will be barreling down from the left and it isn’t until the streetcar’s bell starts ringing wildly that it dawns on me that this is a dumb assumption on my part. Some moron in a minivan (if you’ll pardon the redundancy) has blasted by on the inside of the streetcar, past the open doors that are telling him to stop. He continues on still oblivious to the bell from the streetcar and my profanity laced shouting and wild gesticulations, through the crosswalk and on down the street until he stops at a red light making it one out of three traffic signals he’s obeyed in a 30 second span. Not bad, I guess. Should we really demand more from our drivers?

Shaking my head, I get to the other side of the street and somehow feel like the asshole in the situation to all those who had witnessed the proceedings, having made some sort of uppity pedestrian spectacle of myself. Then on through a parking lot I go before being stopped up short again by a car racing up a back alley. Now I’m pretty sure the speed limit on these things is 20 k/hr which I tried shouting out at the passing driver but he was long out of earshot before I got past, Hey, jagoff… It was then a quiet, uneventful walk the rest of the way home.

But it appears the congeniality that I felt had descended onto the streets since the rash of pedestrian deaths a few weeks back has disappeared. On a busy Saturday of a long weekend, distracted drivers are once more gunning around town, striking back at the war on cars. Streetcars? What streetcars? Pedestrians? Keep on the sidewalks where you belong. Unless, of course, I have to pull up there for a quick stop at the Tim Hortons.

So I guess a few brave souls are going to have to step up and step out into the traffic and get run down again in order to bring peace back onto the streets. That seems to be the only way to make it safe to walk the streets of this city.

— ruefully submitted by Urban Sophisticat

Cars Don’t Kill People

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Beware Drivers Of Toronto! Crazed Pedestrians Running Amok! Stepping Distractedly Into Streets Like Zombies! Damaging Cars! Killing Them Only Encourages More Erratic Behaviour!

In our ever escalating war on cars, the ranks of foot soldiers grow thin. Reduced to throwing themselves at the enemy like desperate kamikaze, they are not only losing their lives but — even worse — they are losing in the battle of public opinion. No motorists have been killed so far, yet they are being portrayed as the put upon victims. Innocent bystanders subjected to the onslaught of jaywalking pedestrians, darting in and out of traffic like rabid squirrels. All that stands between the valiant road warriors and certain death is a mere 1500-2000 kilograms of motor vehicle.

Has there ever been a worse time to be sitting behind the wheel of a car?

I would expect this type of demagoguery from 3 out of our 4 daily rags but to wake up yesterday morning to hear Metro Morning’s Andy Barrie interviewing a CBC producer about the trauma she’s endured after having accidentally, and through no fault of her own, killed a man with a truck she was driving, well, it was too much. Too, too much. While I’m sure the guilt and second guessing must be painful and long lasting, hey, I’d take that over being dead, I think.

The insufferable index rose alarmingly higher when Ms. Borel talked of how, when the police investigation of the accident was over and she was cleared of any wrong doing, she got right back up on that proverbial horse and drove the truck away, fearing that if she didn’t, she might never drive again. Wouldn’t that have been tragedy! One less driver on the road.

Later on in the same show, Andy talked with the Superintendent of Toronto Police Traffic Services, Earl Witty who advised pedestrians to be more vigilant and obey the rules of the road. Even when pedestrians think they have the right of way in a situation with a car, Witty stressed, they should never assume the driver thinks likewise. You may be in the right but you would be dead right. At which time both he and Andy chuckled mirthlessly along with their listeners. Witty then talked about how the police would be on a safety blitz, ticketing jaywalkers and other pedestrian traffic offenders to get their point across.

With only two drivers apparently charged in the 14 pedestrian deaths in the GTA so far this year, I guess the take away lesson is that in 86% of the fatalities, the victim has been solely to blame; the authors of their own demise. It’s a jungle out there, people. You have to be on your toes at all times. Never let your guard down. Even if you’re absolutely in the clear, keep your eyes peeled (but certainly not your ear to the ground especially if you’re in dark clothes) because drivers can’t always see you or come to a complete stop at a red light before making a right turn or treat that stoplight that’s such a stale yellow that in fact it’s red and not speed up and barrel through it or make an illegal u-turn in the middle of the street or just throw out the anchors and stop up short in a fucking bike lane…

It’s like we’re endorsing the bully principle. Even when the sniveling weakling is blameless, he’s going to get his ass handed to him because, ultimately, might makes right.

But how come if pedestrians are being advised to operate under the assumption that danger lurks around every street corner, a similar onus not placed on drivers? They’re the ones riding around in the killing machines. As Spiderman’s uncle said: With great power comes great responsibility. Drivers should drive as if there’s a child crouching behind every parked car they pass, waiting to bolt out in front of them. Drivers should drive not like they’re kings of the road or cocks of the walk but with the knowledge of the pain and suffering they can inflict due to inattention on anyone’s part. Drivers should drive as if it’s a privilege and not a God given right.

— indignantly submitted by Urban Sophisticat