THE TIMES FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 ❘
NEWS
❘ A11
Gentle Family Care
ABBOTSFORD’S MOST WANTED The Abbotsford Police Department has warrants attached to these individuals that were outstanding as of 10 a.m. Thursday. If anyone has information on the whereabouts of these individuals, call the detachment at 604-859-5225 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Dale Koenders
Adolf Sawatzky
Wanted for driving while disqualified
Wanted for being unlawfully at large
Wanted for assault
47 years old
46 years old
44 years old
ADVERTISING FEATURE
THOSE LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER
When Nat King Cole sang about the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer,” by ‘crazy’ he meant ‘crazy great’. This summer has been ‘crazy’. ‘ Crazy good’ locally: crashes way down on the new Sea-to-Sky highway and also down across the province. But just plain old ‘crazy - not great’ internationally.
THE ROAD RULES
Cedric Hughes Barrister & Solicitor
In early August, in Switzerland, a Swedish motorist driving a $230,000 Mercedes was caught by a ‘new generation’ speed camera on the A12 highway between Bern and Lausanne travelling at close to 290 kmh. Swiss speeding fines are a function of the motorist’s income and the vehicle’s speed. This motorist is facing the highest possible penalty of 300 days of fines at $3,533 per day, which at $1,060,000 totals the world’s biggest speeding fine. Also in early August, the American Automobile Association released a study in which two-thirds of the dog owners surveyed said they routinely drive while cradling pets in their laps or “perching [them…] on their chests.” Unrestrained pets inside moving vehicles are a hazard. They are distracting, they can become lethal projectiles, and if they survive a crash, they can be a hazard to emergency-responders. About 40 per cent of Americans own dogs. Only 17 per cent of the survey respondents said they use a pet-restraint system. In short, we now know that pets are a major distraction for a significant number of drivers. The reporting of the death of a two-year-old Ontario boy in Houston, Texas from excessive heat exposure on August 19th after being forgotten for two hours in a sweltering vehicle also disclosed that eight other children
have died in Texas due to excessive heat in the past two months. One of these children, a two-year-old in an elderly woman’s care wandered outside and locked himself in an abandoned vehicle where he was found five hours later.
Janette Fennell of the nonprofit organization Kids and Cars says the invention of the airbag has led to a marked increase in child deaths due to excessive heat. “Because children can no longer sit in front seats due to risk of …airbag detonation, parents are more likely to forget their children are seated behind them.” She notes that nothing has been designed to compensate for this important change. “A simple technological reminder,” she said, “could save hundreds of children’s lives.”
In late August, a Calgary story contradicted what we like to think about the Canadian character. A surveillance video captured first a crash on a freeway ramp only minutes from a Calgary hospital, and then car after car driving past without stopping to help the injured driver, ultimately pronounced dead at the scene. The police reported no “endless list of calls to 911.” People didn’t call and people didn’t stop. …And finally there was the traffic jam on the Beijing-Tibet expressway: 100 kilometers long and lasting nine days with individual drivers caught for as long as three days. A spokesman for the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau reportedly said the backup was due to "insufficient traffic capacity … caused by maintenance construction."
Cedric Hughes L.L.B. Leslie McGuffin L.L.B. www.roadrules.ca
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