Curious and concerned
So, you’re just sitting in your vehicle, warming up and you see emergency vehicles pulling up and emergency personnel launching a search of the nearby water and shoreline. They’re professionally trained in what they do, so you just sit there and watch.
Now, imagine their attention suddenly shifting to you. You learn it’s you they’re looking for. That’s not just a scenario; it’s what unfolded earlier this week near the North River causeway.
Someone saw a person in his underwear wading out into the frigid water under the causeway and summoned emergency personnel.
Except for the New Year’s Day, Polar Bear Dips, which are normally well-supervised group activities, seeing someone alone in a body of water at this time of year should cause concern.
But, in this case, the wader was just cooling off from a run.
No harm, no foul.
It is his right to do so. Still, although it is not a legal requirement, it would be good practice to exercise the buddy system when entering water. Accidents and incidents can happen. Having a calm person nearby would also relieve stress for anyone happening upon a routine swim.
And the emergency response? That’s fine, too. The outcome was everything one would want in a real emergency. Everyone’s fine. Everyone can be thankful the runner was as curious as the other onlookers around. Had he simply driven off, no one would have been able to recognize him as the man in the water, and a search might still be underway.
Bottom line? If you see what appears to be someone in urgent need of help, call it in. It’s always good to show concern for the welfare of others.
Persistent drainage problem not addressed in time
A vehicle went out of control this week along the shore road in Campbellton. It stuck a buildup of ice, left the road and clipped off a utility pole.
The ice was caused by runoff from a field. Such an occurrence is not all that uncommon in Prince Edward Island. Motorists always need to be on the lookout.
The troubling part in this situation, though, is it is not uncommon for an ice buildup to occur at that very place along the shore road. Motorists who travel that road regularly might anticipate such a problem there when a wet spell is followed immediately by a quick freeze, but even they can be taken by surprise after travelling on bare pavement for several kilometres. If this was a first-time occurrence for water to be running across the road at that location and freezing, it could be chalked up to a fluke occurrence, but that is not the case. The Department of Transportation must bear some responsibility, because it did not correct the persistent drainage problem.
The buildup of ice and, thus, the collision would not have occurred if water were flowing how it should.