Slow down on roads

Dear editor,

Why is it that drivers fail to acknowledge that we have winter in Canada and expect that they should be able to drive at the same speed and in the same fashion as they do the rest of the year? Scraping the roads down to the pavement makes drivers falsely think that they can drive much like they do all year round. In fact, when the plow scrapes the snow right down to the pavement, it creates the right conditions for black ice to form when the temperature drops. When there is a thin layer of snow on the road, we may need to drive a little bit slower but the snow can actually provide some traction where ice can not. We experienced this just last week when driving into Barrie. We were travelling on a road with a thin layer of snow and a sprinkling of sand but were able to drive at a slightly modified speed. When we turned onto a road that had been completely cleared, we had to reduce our speed to avoid losing traction on the icy patches that had formed.

As drivers and citizens we need to recognize that the road conditions are not always safe and we should expect that somedays we just need to stay home. Putting the onus on the township to create ideal driving conditions makes drivers complacent and creates the unrealistic expectation that we should be able to drive whenever we want regardless of weather.

Slow down and stay safe, 7th line resident