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Thursday, December 12, 2024

Safety in Nova Scotia.

Safety in Nova Scotia.

For a trucker, safety is the most paramount consideration in the course of the day. You wake up thinking safety, you go to sleep thinking safety, and every waking hour is spent observing and avoiding situations that are unsafe.

There’s a highway in Nova Scotia, Highway 101, basically it’s controlled access where the only interaction with traffic entering and exiting the highway is via interchanges. There are no residential laneways allowed, there are no farm lanes with access to the highway. It’s a controlled access highway in every sense of the word.

HOWEVER. If you’re in the logging business apparently you can convince the Nova Scotia government to allow you access to this controlled access highway where logging trucks will be entering the highway from a dead stop and with no ability to run up to speed on an acceleration lane. Not just once by in three separate locations along a 19 kilometre stretch starting at mile marker 157 to 176.

Imagine driving along this highway at highway speed and suddenly find yourself behind a logging truck still on the low side of the transmission on the main travelling lane where there is no chance to pass. Imagine there is no chance to pass because of oncoming traffic.

This is a situation that is simply beyond the capacity to understand as being safe. No, it’s a wreck looking for a time to happen, not that it won’t happen, it’s absolutely certain to happen, the question is when it will happen.

Hopefully, by publicizing this breach of safety in Nova Scotia, those who are not usually familiar with this part of the highway will be prepared for and be able to avoid a serious crash.