Sunday #2
Having travelled over 2000 miles this week, and all of it on the 401 between Toronto and Montreal, I can categorically say that the money that Northumberland County has spent on the two signs posted at the County boundary is not enough. These signs are cheap and chintzy in comparison to all of the other announcement signs on the 401. If you want to be in the business of image, image is everything. If you want to see a great sign look at the Napanee sign, followed by the Belleville and Quinte West signs, both good nighttime signs. I just hope that the Northumberland signs are not finished products even the Port Hope sign is a better looking one.
And whilst we are on the topic of roads, all I can hope for next week is that a fairy godmother flies over and zaps all merging motorists. If you can't merge properly onto a fourlane highway don't drive! Almost all drivers this week, coming down an entry ramp on the 401, have done two things: travelled at a speed that would give a travelling driver the impression that they are going to collide if that speed was maintained and two, instead of increasing speed and merging in front of the traveller the merger will slam the brakes on at the last minute and fall in behind. Meanwhile the traveller has been frantically scouring his rearview and mentally calculating whether it is safe to pull into the faster lane to avoid the merger.
And whilst we are on the topic of roads, all I can hope for next week is that a fairy godmother flies over and zaps all merging motorists. If you can't merge properly onto a fourlane highway don't drive! Almost all drivers this week, coming down an entry ramp on the 401, have done two things: travelled at a speed that would give a travelling driver the impression that they are going to collide if that speed was maintained and two, instead of increasing speed and merging in front of the traveller the merger will slam the brakes on at the last minute and fall in behind. Meanwhile the traveller has been frantically scouring his rearview and mentally calculating whether it is safe to pull into the faster lane to avoid the merger.
4 comments:
Re Northumberland signs--
Not only chintzy but unfriendly. Would it hurt to say "Welcome to Northumberland" at least. And by the way, why is there a sign stuck in the middle of Northumberland County at the Big Apple saying you are in Bay of Quinte country?
Highway #401:
At least there aren't too many senior drivers putting along well below the speed limit like on the secondary roads and in town, where they are a menace to safe navigation for everyone.
My understanding of 401 etiquette is that you pull into the fast lane as you approach the highway entry ramp, so that the merging driver can do that safely into the slow lane.
Oh Yeh! Try that on a two lane highway with another truck in the fast lane trying to get around you. 401 etiquette only goes so far when you have the road and are the behometh with little room to manoevre. You want in the lane you move around whatever is where you want to be. For safety's sake the way to do it is to either time tour entry to be behind the vehicle in lane 1 or to speed up as you enter to go in front of the vehicle in lane 1
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