Walking in Waterloo Region

[ac3r]

Walking (or biking) in this city can be bad. One particularly awful area is South Kitchener/North Cambridge. You basically can't get to Cambridge on foot without walking on the shoulder of busy roads. King Street East forces you to walk on the shoulder, even having to run across the busy on/off ramps of Highway 8. You can avoid that by going down Riverbank/Allendale/Fountain, but those roads also have no sidewalks and it would take you about an hour. When I was in my teens, I had a part time job at Future Shop (where the Value Vilage is), and since I couldn't really afford to bus, I had to rush across busy highway ramps just to get there.

[panamaniac]

If I saw someone walking down that way, my main thought would be to wonder if they needed help ...

[danbrotherston]

"The driver who hit WLU Dean was under the influence when he killed her"

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/987...rier-dean/

This is such a disturbing story. The most frustrating thing to me is that this driver has been involved in 9 police reported collisions in the fifteen years from 2000 to 2015. Even if marijuana was the proximate cause of this collision, I believe that it is clear this person should not have been driving. Anyone with a record like this is not safe on our roads. And if we had road safety standards to keep dangerous drivers off the road, and reasonable alternatives to make it feasible for people to not drive, then this enormous tragedy could have been avoided.

[ijmorlan]

Even if marijuana was the proximate cause of this collision, I believe that it is clear this person should not have been driving. Anyone with a record like this is not safe on our roads. And if we had road safety standards to keep dangerous drivers off the road, and reasonable alternatives to make it feasible for people to not drive, then this enormous tragedy could have been avoided.

Amen. It’s way too hard to obtain a permanent driving ban. I’m not sure what happens if somebody drives while under a permanent driving ban, but it should be sufficient prison time that it’s impossible to be caught driving under a permanent ban more than a handful of times without being really good at escaping from prison.

[Spokes]

Wow, that's crazy! You'd think prison time. It's not like they can ban them more right?

[ijmorlan]

I should add that in general I’m not a big “lock them up and throw away the key” person but for the case of violating a permanent driving ban protecting the public takes precedence over giving the offender another chance or any other reason why we normally try to avoid heavier and heavier punishments. Tough beans. Don’t drive while under a permanent driving ban.

[plam]

I should add that in general I’m not a big “lock them up and throw away the key” person but for the case of violating a permanent driving ban protecting the public takes precedence over giving the offender another chance or any other reason why we normally try to avoid heavier and heavier punishments. Tough beans. Don’t drive while under a permanent driving ban.

It would also be fantastic if there were non-driving ways of getting around.

[tomh009]

I should add that in general I’m not a big “lock them up and throw away the key” person but for the case of violating a permanent driving ban protecting the public takes precedence over giving the offender another chance or any other reason why we normally try to avoid heavier and heavier punishments. Tough beans. Don’t drive while under a permanent driving ban.

It would also be fantastic if there were non-driving ways of getting around.

Maybe somebody can invent something? Maybe some larger rectangular vehicles with more capacity? They could run on the streets, or else on dedicated iron rails? Something like that could move a lot of people without everyone having to drive.

[danbrotherston]

It would also be fantastic if there were non-driving ways of getting around.

Maybe somebody can invent something? Maybe some larger rectangular vehicles with more capacity? They could run on the streets, or else on dedicated iron rails? Something like that could move a lot of people without everyone having to drive.

The problem is all the transit in the world doesn't fix broken land use patterns.

Bike lanes on the other hand can fix broken land use patterns .

[tomh009]

Maybe somebody can invent something? Maybe some larger rectangular vehicles with more capacity? They could run on the streets, or else on dedicated iron rails? Something like that could move a lot of people without everyone having to drive.

The problem is all the transit in the world doesn't fix broken land use patterns.

Bike lanes on the other hand can fix broken land use patterns .

Maybe yes -- but only for people who use bicycles. Everyone is potentially able to use transit. Most people can also walk. Bicycling reduces the potential population (less so in Amsterdam, much more so here).

[danbrotherston]

The problem is all the transit in the world doesn't fix broken land use patterns.

Bike lanes on the other hand can fix broken land use patterns .

Maybe yes -- but only for people who use bicycles. Everyone is potentially able to use transit. Most people can also walk. Bicycling reduces the potential population (less so in Amsterdam, much more so here).

Transit does not work for everyone, no more than cycling does. Almost everyone can ride a bike, and if not a traditional bicycle, any one of many types of accessibility bicycles, like trikes, hand cycles, even bicycle adapters for wheelchairs, or even the things you find in the netherlands, that look like tiny cars.  There are a small number of people who cannot ride bikes at all, and that's fine, transit also doesn't work for everyone.

But transit does not work for everyone either. The fact is, if a service isn't fast and convenient, it isn't a real option.  People who live in anti-transit suburbs will never have a realistic transit option. These things aren't black and white.

Having cycling as an option provides realistic transportation options to more people than just transit.

This isn't controversial.

[Chris]

Fatal hit and run in Kitchener

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/body-in-kit...-1.4795199

I have walked that section before...it's incredibly unpleasant, no sidewalk, speeding traffic, of course that's where we build thousands of homes and new plazas.

We never build anything before the roads are built, yet sidewalks, bike lanes, all optional.

Not to mention that the subdivisions don't have proper cut through access, which means that walks become many times longer than they need to be.

It's truly a tragedy, one that is entirely preventable.

They have laid charges against multiple people for this hit and run but are still trying to facilitate the arrest of the driver.

Arrests made in connection with February's fatal hit and run
https://www.kitchenertoday.com/police-be...un-2331715

[panamaniac]

So three people helped the perp, who is still on the lamb? Who ARE these people!!??

[Chris]

So three people helped the perp, who is still on the lamb?  Who ARE these people!!??

I wondered the same thing and thought this is like a Guy Ritchie movie. I imagine they have weird nicknames too.

[jeffster]

So three people helped the perp, who is still on the lamb?  Who ARE these people!!??

Only thing we know is that they're from Waterloo. I am guessing they could be family members of the driver, and would have been in the car when it happened.