Dear editor,
Re: Lazo Road does not need a lower speed limit; it needs widening (May 5 letter)
I am so very glad that Phil Harrison enjoys cruising down Lazo Road but I hope that he, unlike so many others, follows the posted speed limit.
As a Lazo Road resident, I can say that rarely an hour goes by without someone in a sports car or big truck racing past my house at 80-100 km/h or more, and even more considerate people seem to exceed the limit by lesser amounts as a matter of course.
The people who actually live here are very tired of our road being used as the Valley’s race track, and widening it to make it easier or marginally safer for speeders to speed isn’t the solution. What we want is both a lower speed limit and traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps to put an end to this nonsense, and some actual enforcement by the RCMP to make sure of it.
We aren’t holding our breath, of course. Lazo Road goes through both the town of Comox and the CVRD but the CVRD doesn’t own the roads in Area B, the province does. Emails to the responsible minister, our local MLA, the local MOTI office and the RCMP all either go unanswered or elicit replies denying responsibility and/or resources to deal with the problem.
Speed limit signs cost roughly $100 each for the reflective ones, and the lighted ones that display peoples’ speed cost only a few thousand each, so the issue here really is more political inertia and disinterest than lack of resources. Those opposed to lowering the speed limit should ask themselves how they would like it if I drove down their street at 80 km/h with their kids playing in the yard and horses and cyclists and dog walkers all trying hard not to get hit. I thought not.
Mike Baker,
CVRD Area B