SNOW-CLEARING POLICY SHOULD BE CHANGED

It is unfathomable that in 60-plus years we have not progressed in Cape Breton in terms of snow removal, particularly on secondary roads.

The Department of Highways, as it was called in 1959, did a much better (even fabulous) job of keeping roads open. And, I believe, we had more snow to move then.

As a child coming home from school, we would play on snow banks high enough to touch the telephone wires, had we wanted to do so. Because we lived on a secondary road (Table Head Road, which is an extension to the paved part, namely Black Rock Road) in Big Bras d’Or, we knew we had to be patient after a storm as the highway crews were busy keeping the main arteries open. That was the reality and we lived with that, as it made perfect sense. We were kids back then so we would have enjoyed a day off from school at any rate. But, I digress ...

Fast forward to 2020. We now have a Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, (sounds so official and efficient) who sit on their laurels and preach the ‘new’ (archaic as it is) law on the books. Secondary roads, they seem proud to tell us, DO NOT have to be cleared until 24 hours after a storm. It makes no sense to me that when they come down with the salt truck to salt the paved part of the road (Black Rock Road) that they do not at least make one pass through the lower end (Table Head Road).

Instead, they only clear the upper part and have to come back later to finish the rest.

You would think the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure would feel embarrassed by such an action but instead they fall back on the letter of the law, reciting the law more adamantly than a minister preaches the Sunday gospel.

I believe more than enough time has passed for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to be making at least some progress. Fact is they have regressed.

There should be no such notion of waiting 24 hours after the snow stops because that is what the law is. I hope someone sees the ridiculousness in all of this and does something about it. Who comes up with such a law in this day and age? Maybe all that is needed is a little common sense, which clearly, they are not using.

Michael O’Connor Table Head Road Victoria Co.