Why is it so hard for town council to engage with their constituents?
My neighbours and I have kindly asked the Qualicum Beach town council to implement traffic calming or revised speed limits near our homes for a number of years.
The silence from current and past town councils is deafening, they refuse to engage, leaving local traffic enforcement to the Oceanside RCMP who do not have the time or resources.
Many municipalities in our province are trying to be proactive in reducing the number and severity of crashes by altering speed limits, we are not alone in our mission.
As none of us want change but we seem to like progress, the answer of course is photo radar. The old adage, “touch their wallets and their minds will follow” could apply in this case.
To alleviate the cries of “this is just another money grab” we can provide the following solution: All money collected from photo radar tickets is to be donated to local charities designated by town council, a win-win.
To make it even more palatable, maybe the respective charities could issue a tax receipt in your name for your speeding offence contribution.
Imagine, our valued police resources no longer having to stand at the side of the road ticketing speeders. Photo radar will make our streets safer, is that so much to ask from our elected officials?
Speaking of elected officials and their campaign promises of a better and safer community, we can raise our voices on Oct. 15, 2022, the date of our next municipal elections.
Steve Hertling
Qualicum Beach
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