Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 14, 1969, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press saturday june 14, 1969 the Herron Folk. Traffic in Winnipeg becomes an increasing Hazard not because of Road repairs but because of Drivers and pedestrians who ought not to be let out with anything More lethal than a wheel chair or in anything More congested than a five acre Field. Have you a wife Uncle Mother or child to let out of your car in town then do it at a traffic signal. It will save ten paces even though it May get your Mother killed. Are you in the curb Lane and find your Way blocked by a parked car Don t pull up and wait for the traffic in the other Lane to pass. Nobody on god s Good Earth has the right to delay your Progress for one blessed second. Pull out without a signal an squeeze the traffic on your outside Lane into the oncoming Lane. It happens every Day. It is the Only Way to drive. Have you got signal lights on the rear of your car take them off. The thing to do is to whip from Lane to Lane without signalling your intention. Let the other fellow look but for himself. Have you got signal lights on the front end of your car take them off who has the right to know you re just about to whip across the Street As soon As the Light changes right across the bows of the traffic in the oncoming lanes not the other Drivers. It s up to them to think of you. Have you noticed that some of the craziest louts behind a wheel in this City Are people who share their dangerous life with you and me and their car Load of kids for whom they feel no sense of responsibility we All need somebody to show off for. Have you noticed that increasingly people pay no attention to traffic lights there Are the Amber jump ers the people who Are never half Way across the intersection before the Light turns red and the people who race the Amber even though they be been watching it for 50" Yards and know they can t get across in time or if they Don t know How did they Ever get a permit to drive More cars must Cross intersections on the red in this City than in any other known to me. Have you noticed How. Many people including Little children have died on our streets in the past two weeks have you noticed that in those school zones that were so unwisely abandoned the 15-mile-an-hour zones that everybody or nearly everybody regarded with. Care there is More abandoned driving by students with cars and by adults without brains than there has Ever been have you noticed that increasingly pedestrians pay no attention to the lights but head out into danger and destruction As if they were in the Back forty 100 lilies from the nearest front bumper it is no just at Eaton s Corner on Portage that the death and brigade Waltzes into the oncoming horde of front ends you can see it anywhere in downtown Winnipeg any Day. Have you noticed that you can be fined for parking too close to an intersection but the City puts parking meters so close to intersections that they become traffic hazards and the causes of blockages across Portage f this is the stupidest arrangement i have seen in any City. Time and again before or after nine . For Ever around to enforce the traffic Laws traffic crossing Portage is held up while somebody Parks at a meter and the lights change and All lanes Are blocked because some official could t envisage what would happen if he put a meter that close to a major traffic Way the Day the school patrols had their Parade up Portage i stopped at an intersection leading into that and watched an extraordinary performance by a traffic i policeman on a Motorbike. While the kids marched up the Street he at no time got his backside off the seat of his Bike and at no time did he attempt to control the movement of traffic by the Normal and these i would assume to be by using his head by getting off his Bike by getting out into the Middle of the Street and moving his arms in familiar patterns that everybody understands. Not. This one. He gave no directions to the traffic. He sat there till it moved and then screamed at it and leaned Forward like a cop from a terror movie pointing accusing fingers and shouting. He was pretty close to hysteria i should judge. He was just As hysterical with pedestrians. The lights would change while we All waited for him to Stop screaming and direct traffic and pedestrians would begin to Cross the Street. The kids weren t always visible when there was a break in the column at the this guardian of Law and order and order and director of our safety on the streets would let the pedestrians half Way across the Street half Way to the Island that is then Point that big at them As if they were rioters and scream can t you wait can t you he had t asked them or directed them or told them to wait. He had t done a Damn thing but sit there glowering at the people he did t know How to control and who were All quite willing to be directed delayed diverted or otherwise shown what he wanted them to do for the Short time the emergency would last. How did this Man get on to the Force he obviously had t the temperament to be a policeman and he certainly had t the brains to be a traffic policeman. He Clearl Ydian t know what to do and presumably he had had some training in the handling of simple things like the passage of Well behaved children up a main Street in a City. It makes me wonder what is happening to traffic control in this City is anybody in charge of it i got the number of the Motorbike this nervous policeman was Riding. George blow can have it if he is concerned about the Way traffic is beginning to be a threat to life and limb in the City of Winnipeg because traffic control in t helping at All. Not the kind we have. Police Montreal up police dodged a Hail of missiles Early Friday and captured a 20-year old Man who had smashed the Glass door of a West end Bank of Montreal Branch and was searching the premises for Valu Ables. Responding to a burglar alarm police found the intruder hiding behind a Row of tellers cages. He pelted them with a variety of objects snatched from counter tops before being col Lared. Dodge missiles nothing was stolen and dam age was slight. In three1 Bank holdups thurs Day armed and hooded bandits made off with More than 000. They took from a mid town Bank of Montreal Branch from an East end Bank of Commerce Branch and an undetermined amount at a North end Toronto Dominion Branch. Grip on cons tit work with Weir to keep Manitoba growing More effective co operation in monetary matters Between Federal and provincial governments is Essen tial to the growth of Prosperity in Manitoba. Speaking on behalf of your progressive conservative government Premier Walter Weir took positive action on this matter at the Federal provincial constitutional conference in february. Or. Weir insisted that firm control be exercised on tax priorities that pacing of Public development be vastly improved to combat inflationary pressures threatening All canadians. To prove his Point he presented a balanced budget to Manitoban for the second consecutive year. Here at Home Premier Weir and your govern ment will continue to press Ottawa for Equit Able economic treatment of every Region in authorized by the progressive conservative association of Manitoba Canada for a greater share of tax revenues to remain in Manitoba thus giving our citizens the provincial services they have every right to expect. They will continue to Advance the cause of Manitoba Farmers and establish a Cost control system within our own bound Aries by Means of provincial municipal conferences. Your progressive conservative government is pledged to help end regional disparity and strengthen Canada As a nation. They seek your approval of their policies on election Day june 25th. To keep Manitoba moving ahead vote for your progressive conservative candidate and vote for an Iron grip on regional and constitutional Reform. Vote progressive 25 ;