Misplaced blame

Dear editor:
I am embarrassed to be called a Northwestern Ontarian after hearing on the radio what the people are demanding of the government.
The government owes no one an apology for the accidents on our highways over the years. It is neither the government nor the contractor’s fault for the accidents that have occurred in the past years on our roads.
Most accidents are due to driver error yet in today’s society, it seems better to blame someone else than ourselves.
We live in Northwestern Ontario, where the weather is unpredictable at best. People seem to think that the roads should be clear and dry at all times; sorry, but here that is impossible.
People blame the men and women who risk their lives every winter to keep the roads clean when they are too ignorant to just slow down and drive according to the road conditions, or get off the phone and stop texting while driving.
Just remember the people you are asking an apology from are the ones who are out there when the roads are closed—because you can’t see your hand in front of your face—trying to clean roads they can’t see so you can go on with your daily life.
The roads here are maintained to the standards for the classification they fall under. We do not live in a metropolis like Toronto, where you will find a Class 1 highway such as the 400 series.
The standards for Class 1 highways are much higher than any we have around here. These are the highways in our area and the standards for their maintenance in the winter:
•Class 2—2.2 hours/circuit (Highways 11, 17, and 71)—bare pavement within 16 hours after event;
•Class 3—3.3 hours/circuit (Highway 105, from the junction with Highway 17 to Highway 125)—bare pavement within 24 hours after event;
•Class 4—5.5 hours/circuit (Highways 502 and 621)—centre bare within 24 hours and bare pavement as conditions permit;
•Class 5—10 hours/circuit (Highways 600 and 619)—snowpack condition 24 hours after the end of the event, which includes a driving surface free of loose snow or slush, potholes, washboard, and slippery areas.
(*circuit: the time a unit leaves the yard until it completes one circuit of its designated route)
(*event: accumulation of precipitation)
(*bare pavement: bare edge line to edge line on 95 percent of the highway surface)
We perhaps should be asking instead why our municipality is not maintaining the highway through town to the proper standards as the highway contractors are.
The government and contractors have listened to the complaints in recent years, and even have been maintaining Highway 502 to a higher standard.
With upping the maintenance, they now are using salt instead of sand—like the people screamed for—but now we have a wildlife problem. There are moose coming out to lick the salt from the road surface.
So now people will complain that they are hitting moose and blame the road maintenance contractor or the government.
People need to stop laying blame where it does not belong.
Signed,
Rachelle Lavigne
Fort Frances, Ont.