Now that Vernon is getting bigger and busier with many more cars on the road, city council seems to have the mindset that now that the city is growing and much busier, the roadways need to be much narrower to make it as hard as possible to get around.
Thirtieth avenue is definitely a road to be avoided as it has been narrowed from four to two lanes years ago to discourage people from going downtown.
Now the road to Kalamalka Lake is only going to be two lanes when it should be four lanes just to handle the traffic. I guess we can pay in a few years when city council decides it made a mistake. I went down to have a look at the two new one-way streets in downtown Vernon. Great idea except for the fact that when we all got our licences years ago, we were taught to back into a parking space whenever possible to make it easier and safer to get out of the spot by driving forward. Why on earth did the city make the spaces so you drive in and then you have to back out into traffic to get out?
When someone decides to wedge their pickup in beside you on the driver’s side, you cannot see traffic approaching until you get to the driver’s window, past the end of the truck into the travelled lane, so you cannot see cars or bikes going past the back end.
The parking stalls should be angled so you have to back into them to make it easier when exiting the spot by driving forward. It has always amazed me that the only other spots in town that are angled the wrong way are in front of the RCMP. There would be no loss of spots if the parking stalls were angled the right way.
Dave Jones
Vernon