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Businesses caught in middle of teachers’ job action KRISTEN DOUGLAS CAMPBELL RIVER
MIRROR FILE
Emergency crews respond to a two-vehicle collision, in August 2005, at the intersection of Dogwood Street and Evergreen Road, before the new traffic lights were installed. More lights along Dogwood, coupled with a lighting pattern change in 2009, are thought to be the main reasons why accidents are decreasing along the city’s most dangerous stretch.
Irksome Dogwood lights are showing benefits Accidents at intersections decline on city’s most dangerous stretch PAUL RUDAN CAMPBELL RIVER MIRROR
The Dogwood Street lights are putting a damper on traffic accidents. New statistics provided by
ICBC show a decrease in the number of accidents all along the city’s most dangerous road, particularly since the new lighting scheme was implemented in 2009. “People are probably going to
hate to hear this, but since they changed the lights on Dogwood, we’ve been attending far less crashes at intersections,” said RCMP Const. Dave Dormuth, who’s been policing municipal traffic for almost a decade in Campbell River. Changes to the lighting pattern created a lot of grumbling amongst motorists, several of whom expressed their frustration mostly due to longer wait times at intersections as
well as lengthier line-ups. “Dogwood Street has now become a nightmare. Stop and start. Stop and start. Every light,” wrote Roy Moyer in a letter to the Mirror in June 2009. However, three years later, the start-and-stop routine appears to be having a positive effect and the numbers are there for everyone to see on ICBC’s interactive “crash map” webpage Continued on A3
GREAT CANADIAN OIL OIL GREAT CANADIAN
Strathcona Park Lodge has fallen victim to teachers’ job action, says a director at the park. Dozens of employees are suffering from lost wages as revenues are down significantly due to cancellations from more than 40 per cent of schools that were booked into the lodge. “For more than 50 years the outdoor education centre has hosted school groups from across British Columbia,” said Jamie Boulding, co-executive director at Strathcona Park Lodge. “Thousands of school children gain a new appreciation for the outdoor world and learn valuable life skills every year. But this spring the lodge was quiet.” Fields trips were called off after teachers across B.C. voted in April to withdraw from extracurricular activities in protest of Bill 22 – government imposed legislation teachers say strips away their collective bargaining rights and allows for unmanageable Continued on A3