Mid July, look for the celebration for the opening of the gazebo at the community hall, which was donated by the 108 Lions Club. The event takes place July 12 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and there will be a beer garden and stuff for the kids and games for the whole family. Come out and celebrate.
New signage across from the Heritage site indicates that from now on, motorized vehicles will no longer be allowed on what is private and leased grazing land. Please adhere to posted signs and be respectful of the landowners and their cattle operation.
School is now out for the summer but district staff continue to access the school and grounds so please watch out for pedestrians and workers at and around school grounds during the summer. Canada Day at the Heritage site saw record attendance this year, with all the vendors keeping busy throughout the day. A great time was had by all and the weather was perfect.
The only negative was a visitor who was observed driving at a high rate of speed in the same area of the festivities, apparently resulting a close call for pedestrians walking to the event. We all know this behaviour is not acceptable, especially at a public, crowded event.
The 108 Mile Ranch has a fairly conservative set of rules of the road, no traffic lights, consistent 50 kmh speed limits and good roads. In an area with no street lights, no sidewalks and no curbs, one would think speeding would be seen by everyone as something to be adhered to.
Only recently, school bussing was re-instated in 108 in part due to parents boycotting and petitioning, based on the lack of road safety if they had to walk to school. Imagine, up in arms to bring back bussing to protect kids from dangerous drivers, of whom we are many according to the parents’ campaign.
Yet here we are, no closer to seeing speed limits either enforced, or adhered to on the ranch. God forbid kids walk to school on our roads, but we should be able to drive on them, happily speeding along, at any speed we please.
Our one and only school zone signage, work zones, or signage for daycare homes does little if anything to slow drivers down. The daycare on the way to the mail boxes has put out a slowdown sign but it is largely ignored.
The lack of any enforcement, and even the RCMP, who I have seen many a time blatantly speeding shows drivers nothing in terms of being a deterrent. Everyone knows that you’re more likely to win the lotto, than be pulled over for speeding, and ten km/h over the limit is normal operating procedure.
The ranch has been inconvenienced directly by speeders many times, and one need only look at power outages caused by drivers breaking speed limits, resulting in them losing control and hitting power poles. This has occurred multiple times and was attributed to distracted driving or speeding each time.
Most drivers think they are better drivers than what they really are, and most would likely fail the road test if required to retake it. Our resident deer population would also agree with my synopsis on drivers speeding. Look for the wounded or dead animals as a result of driving over the limit.
Speed limits are established by civil engineers who do so using standards and calculations, in addition to risk assessments and government regulation designed for driving under perfect conditions. We seem to think we know better, and can disregard these rules.
RCMP seem to think it’s not one of the adrenaline inducing exotic crimes, worthy of wiping out the ticket book for, and are relaxed to the point of seemingly sleeping or looking the other way when a drivers is five to ten over the limit.
If my reactionary ranting is not enough for you to consider slowing down within the ranch, maybe some hard facts will.
Speeding is the top culprit behind fatal collisions in B.C., claiming an average of 84 lives and injuring over 2,168 people each year.
The interior of B.C. reported 32 deaths and 617 injuries; and the north reports 14 deaths and 259 injuries.
Automated cameras generated over $7 million for public safety programs.
A 2001 study estimated photo radar delivers a savings of $38 million for ICBC which in turn, saves tax dollars.
Studies have shown that erratic speeding increases fuel consumption—so speeding literally burns money.
Just 5 km/h over the limit increases a crash risk by 30–50 percent.
A 2022 poll in BC found strong approval for countermeasures—76% support fixed speed cameras, 66 per cent back mobile cameras, and 61 per cent favour point-to-point average speed enforcement.
Speeding in British Columbia is a persistent and deadly threat with profound personal, financial and societal costs. B.C.’s current blend of driver bad attitudes and lousy abilities, no real enforcement standards, or any real motivation make speeding an attractive way to get your rebel on while getting from a to b.
By scaling up automated enforcement, embedding real deterrents, and using data-smart speed zones, B.C. can dramatically reduce crashes, save lives, and protect taxpayers, while saving all B.C. residents cash in our jeans by reducing insurance rates.
With every driver who slows down, every ticket written, every new speed camera, every RCMP officer who enforces local laws, lives are saved—and costs avoided.
