I have spent a great deal of time reading the letters to the editor regarding the Stickle Road controversy.
My wife and I attended the Ministry of Transportation open house presentations and I must say, trying to get logical information from the staff was no easy task. They kept referring to, "Studies have shown." Unfortunately, none of these studies were available to review.
As a vice-president of a major B.C. corporation, I travel the Interior highways almost on a weekly basis and quite honestly, I didn't see why a traffic light and adjusted speed limits wouldn't work.
I took a few days to make sure and I travelled north toward Stickle Road at a busy rush hour time in the morning and afternoon. I tried to pretend there was a traffic light installed at Stickle. I found merging just a bit scary, especially with the 18-wheelers bearing down on me.
Accelerating and decelerating were definitely going to be a problem if there was a traffic light at Stickle. But I still thought it would work, not as well as the ministry proposal would, but it could be workable.
I then made a point of meeting with our MLA, Eric Foster, to discuss the whole situation. Foster took the time to explain to me how the studies were done and the findings involved as a result. Foster is mainly concerned with the safety of the motorists driving the route and he put forth a very convincing argument in favour of safety and the ministry proposal.
On top of all of this, I have since read Gerry Naito's letter Sept. 4. I really feel Naito has hit the nail on the head. He has put a great deal of thought into his letter and covers many points that should be considered. I support his last two paragraphs totally.
As a result, I will be putting my thoughts and actions in favour of the ministry proposal.
Derek Allen
Coldstream