The fast and the furious

Living near the park has always been an enjoyable experience. It is so nice to see families playing there in the evenings and on weekends.
Throughout the day there is often kids down there unsupervised, having some harmless fun. This summer though, there has been very little activity at Hannam Park until the past few weeks.
That was due to the flooding and the presence of the dike along the bottom of town. While the dike acted as a shield from the rising Rainy River earlier in the summer, it also seemed to damper the flow of people using the park to a trickle.
At the same time traffic that would normally travel along River Avenue West diverted to the back lanes.
While most people maintained the sane speeds one would drive along a park area, some chose to turn the back lanes into a speed zone. Some cars fly from block to block apparently unimpeded by the fact that it is in fact a laneway and speeds should not exceed 20 kph.
With the opening of the street again in the rough condition it is in, some have chosen to continue this fast pace down the lanes.
It is a disaster waiting to happen. Not only do many of the homes along the lanes have small children that could pop out in front of a vehicle in a split second, but the park traffic is on the increase.
It makes me furious when I see people rocket across town on the laneways and afraid that someday soon a tragedy is going to happen.
So please slow down in the alleyways and be on the look out for the little ones. Often they are in their own little worlds and aren’t watching for speeding vehicles.
–Until then,
ken