Since school is starting again, we want to raise awareness about how we can all make a difference to the traffic on our streets. With Calgary growing at a rapid pace, if we just expect miracles from others the traffic will never improve. Please think about the following “good habits” and let’s make our roads safer for all of us.
Use Your Signals
Using your signals should be embedded in the fabric of every driver, this is the way you “talk” in traffic and the way you tell everybody else what your intentions are. How many times have people cut you off and stepped on your nerves? But when you see a signal, you are aware and informed of the change/move that driver wants to do. How many times has someone slammed on the brakes for no reason and then stopped, with no warning, endangering everyone around? The law, and common sense, say you need to use signals before hitting the brakes (except in emergencies). If every driver started using their signals, this small change would make a big difference for Calgary traffic.
Merge Lines
When you are on the highway, don’t race the car that is trying to merge because the merge line ends, and you could cause a car crash. When driving on Deerfoot, take a look where most of the accidents happen and you will see most of them are at the merge lines. Please adjust your speed, be courteous and mindful at the merging lines, and make the merging of other cars safe.
Turn Your Lights On
Our cars have a lot of automatic features, but please get into the good habit of turning on the switch for your lights every time you are driving. When all your lights are on you are visible and safer, especially since we all know the weather in Calgary can change in a split second. We’ve all seen cars with no lights driving at dawn, at dusk, and even more dangerous, in the middle of the night – don’t be that driver.
“Talk” to everyone in traffic, be visible and respectful, and don’t use merge lines as a racetrack, there’s enough space for everyone on the streets. Let’s all get home safe.
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