Driving the point home

A hit-and-run accident on St. John’s Boulevard last week was characterized as street racing by a breathless media eager to pin responsibility on fringe elements of society — the drag racers whose souped-up chariots can be seen many summer nights in the Lafleurs parking lot at the corner of Hymus and Sources boulevards in Pointe Claire. That bunch confines their racing to industrial areas lightly travelled by non-racers, and while annoying, are relatively harmless to most West Islanders — but not to each other. That’s another story for another day.

No, this incident last week, where a pair — or possibly three, police said — of drivers (one driving a red Acura) were weaving and racing down St. John’s Boulevard around 9:30 p.m. and clipped another driver’s vehicle, who spun out and who suffered minor injuries, as did her passenger.

From here, that incident looks more like two idiot drivers trying to out-do the other on their way home from a hockey game or on their way to a party.

The reason is unimportant, but the consequences are dire. This incident just shines a harsh spotlight on reprehensible driver behaviour on the roads at the worst possible time.

With Mother Nature finally having dropped winter on our doorsteps, margin for error decreases and driver awareness must be at its highest. Cellphones, cigarettes and hot-dogging drivers with little or no use for turn signals are still out there.

Winter driving is awfully different from any other time of the year and requires drivers to be more conscientious. Winter tires are not the law, but they should be. Clearing all the snow off your car before getting on the road is the law, but it’s a law few seem to even concern themselves with. Passing, or attempting to pass, snowplows on the highway is an act ripped straight from the Darwin Awards handbook. Windshield-washer fluid must be topped up and visibility must be firmly established in order to drive properly. We’ve seen way too many people driving down the road with their heads cocked at a 45-degree angle in order to see through the three square inches of their windshield that has defrosted. Tough to drive when you can’t see, isn’t it?

Above all, slow down. Getting to an appointment on time is hardly worth losing your life over. Even more importantly, it’s hardly worth losing someone else’s life over.