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When you’re driving on the edge
It no doubt comes a surprise to many motorists that, in terms of highway acci- dents, the recent long weekend in Ontario was one of the safest in 20 years. Over the Civic Holiday weekend, the On- tario Provincial Police reported one fatality on roads and another fatality in a marine incident. According to O.P.P. Commissioner Chris Lewis, the 2013 Civic Holiday long week- end saw the lowest number of fatalities in areas under O.P.P. jurisdiction in almost two decades. Still, the OPP laid 290 charges for not obeying the Move Over law, 6,052 charges for speeding, 83 street racing charges, 375 seat belt charges, 96 charges for driving while impaired by drugs or having a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) above 0.08, and 233 distracted driving charges. Officers also issued 91 roadside licence suspensions to drivers with a BAC in the “warn” range of 0.05 to 0.08. Obviously, there are still too many crazy and dangerous drivers on our roads. And we encounter them every day. Sure, there are many “bad” areas,” blind spots and tricky sections of roads that con- tribute to accidents. But there are many bad drivers out there, too. We know that driving requires our full attention at all times. But, since everyone is so busy, “multi-tasking” has become the norm. We constantly see people who, in addi- tion to operating a motor vehicle, are eat- ing, fiddling with the radio, talking to a passenger, and chatting with somebody else on a cell phone, all at the same time. And, of course, there has to be a coffee in the driver’s hand. Since when did it become vital to always have immediate access to fluids? Sure, it gets dry here at times but this is not the Sahara. Obviously, many drivers are ignorant of the law.
That is why reminders are always being issued to underline some basic rules of the road. Take the “Move Over” rule. This law ap- plies to all motorists who are approaching a police, fire or ambulance vehicle in the same direction of travel, stopped on the roadside with its lights flashing. Drivers in this situation are required to slow down and pass with caution, but if the road has multiple lanes, drivers must move over into another lane, if it can be done safely. Anyway, there are far too many distract- ed people roaming our roads and streets. The other day, there was this young woman who was checking out her make- up and screaming her lungs out to “Ameri- can Girl,”while checking out something on the sidewalk. She was oblivious to a pedes- trian, who was unaware of the motorist be- cause he was texting and listening to ear buds. He was almost as content as the dog that had its head sticking out the window of the fast-moving car while two children fought in the back seat. And, of course, since this is summertime, the roads are clogged with lumbering rec- reational vehicles, and vehicles hauling campers and trailers, and Sunday drivers, who always have the turn signal activated. The boonies present some special chal- lenges. Following a large, slow-moving farm vehicle can try one’s patience. But that is not as bad as being stuck behind a manure tanker on a hot and humid day, while crawling along in a car that has no air conditioning. Do you enjoy sticking your arm out the window and do that surfing thing, undu- lating your hand in the breeze, catching the wind, as your hair and all your accou- trements are whipped around? Well, stop it, because this fun practice is probably not safe, and you might get hit by a bug or strike an oblivious pedestrian.
Photo Richard Mahoney
Champlain residents express opposition to a new proposed water billing system. Water pressure: Rate hike inevitable RICHARD MAHONEY RICHARD.MAHONEY@EAP.ON.CA
and industrial properties. To give own- ers of multi-residential properties a chance to adjust their rents to include the increased cost of the water and sewers, the committee is rec- ommending that the increase is spread over four years.” The charge is now $109.44 per unit every two months. In 2014, the minimum billing would rise to $136.80 for two units and to $1,176.48 for 40 units. Landlords contend that under the new format, their service fees would be higher than property taxes. But at least one resident believes the sys- tem is tipped in favour of renters. With a flat rate, those who consume less than the basic 28 cubic meters per two months are penalized, contended L’Orignal resident JimWalsh. “I subsidize your tenants,” stated Walsh. The fairest systemwould be one whereby bills would be based strictly on actual con- sumption. Installing individual meters is feasible, landlords say. However, that option has been rejected. “We looked at charging based on meter- ing alone,”Thériault related.“If wewent with this option, in order to ensure we would collect enough revenues, we would have to raise the rate charged per cubic meter from $3.90 to at least $6 per cubic meter. This would mean that a single family home us- ing 28 cubic meters per two months would now pay $168 instead of $109. On the oth- er hand a single family home using 10 cu- bic meters per two months would pay $60 instead of $109. The real impact would be on our commercial or industrial’ businesses which use a lot of water. For example, Iva- co, which only uses water, would see their bill increase an average of $3,180 per two months. Beau’s billing for water and sewers would increase an average of $5,660 per two months.” Under the charge-per-unit arrangement, revenues would increase by $152,000 per year, or $38,000 annually if the four-year phase-in is implemented. A three per cent increase in fees represents increased rev- enues of about $39,000 per year for 2014 and 2015. “You are killing the town of Vankleek Hill.”
PLEASANT CORNER | For the second time in a year, ChamplainTownshiphas stalled a proposed increase in water rates. And again the township has served notice that hikes are inevitable. Opposition to the hikes, which were first presented to council in late 2012, is being led by multiple-unit building owners, who believe they are being used as “scape- goats” in the township’s efforts to erase its waterworks deficit. “You are killing the town of Vankleek Hill,” stated apartment building owner Sibylle Aalders at the last township council meeting. Some land- lords have put their buildings up for sale, she said, adding that low-income tenants cannot afford higher charges. “I sympathize with you,” replied mayor Gary Barton.“But we have to make the sys- tem pay for itself. The rates have to go up.” After another long, and at times heated exchange, Barton suggested the landlords form a committee to devise a way to, as one person put it, “share the pain more fairly.” A recommendation had to be pre- sented soon as the township had to set rates by the end of the year. Councillor Gerry Miner recommended the commit- tee represent all consumers. Regardless of the outcome of the discussions, “You are going to pay more,” Barton reiterated. The new rates, set to be imposed in 2014, would affect consumers who are served by the municipal sewage and wa- ter systems in Vankleek Hill, L’Orignal and Laurentian Park. Landlords are boiling over a sugges- tion that the municipality start to charge a minimum fee per unit. “This option does not affect our residential proper- ties or our commercial/industrial proper- ties unless a commercial property has a mixed use of commercial and residential. It onlyaffectsthepropertieswhichhavemore than one family unit living in the building,” noted chief administrator Jean Thériault in a report to council on the water and sew- age committee’s conclusion. “After looking at these options and discussing each at length, the com- mittee thought that the fairest way to change the billing was to recommend to Council to change the water and sewer billing by starting to charge per unit. This would correct the fact that some fam- ily units in the Township are charged a lower fee than others and would not adversely affect our commercial
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Bertrand Castonguay , President, bertrand@eap.on.ca Roger Duplantie , D.G. / G.M., roger@eap.on.ca François Bélair , Sales & Development, fbelair@eap.on.ca François Legault , Directeur de l’information/News Editor, francois.legault@eap.on.ca Yvan Joly , Sales director (Hawkesbury), yvan@eap.on.ca François Leblanc , Directeur (Lachute), francois.leblanc@eap.on.ca Gilles Normand , Production & Distribution Mgr., gilles.normand@eap.on.ca Julien Boisvenue , Layout & Prepress Mgr., julien.boisvenue@eap.on.ca
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