Another double-complaint day... and it's only 10 a.m.!

Today's double-rant... audio pedestrian signals and the dumbass who approved the Gumball 3000 passing through Toronto.

Let's start with rant #2 first, just to be different.

This morning on my way to work I was walking up University to Dundas. Just at the South end of "Hospital Row" (there are 4 hospitals in the block and a half between Queen's Park and Dundas). Just South of Dundas, I was passed by 3 "luxury sports cars" sporting the "Gumball 3000" logo. As I approached Dundas (a mere block from a police division, I might add) I saw another 3 stopped at a red light. The light turned green and instantly (so instantly, in fact, that I'm not actually sure he waited to see the light) the lead car hit the gas so hard that he spun the tires and the back-end stepped out ever so slightly before traction kicked in and he took off with the squeal of tires and the roar of an engine that really has no place in a city at rush hour. Or anywhere without significant 'crowd control', for that matter.

Ok, the engine isn't the problem... but the fact remains, during rush hour, downtown in a very large city (the largest in the country, actually) where there are pedestrians (a universally unknown quantity as any driver will tell you... pedestrians can rarely be counted on to fully obey traffic signals and crossing areas) is no place for rally drivers to be showing off. Especially in what is technically a 'hospital zone'. I guess this driver (and the 2 behind him who exhibited similar behaviours) learned nothing from his fellow 'competitor' (although reports and fans assure me 'rally' is just a name, it's really more of a 'road trip'... yeah... right) who yesterday had his licence pulled for 7 days and his vehicle impounded for doing 170 in a 100 zone ('stunt driving' under Ontario's laws) a scant hour after being ticketed and warned for doing 140 in a 100 zone.

Quebec City pulled the plug on the rally events that were scheduled to take place in that city due to concerns over the safety of locals (citing an unfortunate fatal incident in a previous iteration of the rally). I really wish someone in Toronto had had the brains to do the same.

Don't get me wrong... I like cars... I like speed... I like Rally and other racing... but with defined routes which have been cleared of non-participating traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian).

Now on to the other rant. In Toronto several years ago they introduced pedestrian signals for the visually impaired that had an audio component. Great idea! Successful in countless other cities around the world. Now, when the first introduced these, I was working near one of the pilot intersections... there was a 'chime' that sounded from green to yellow, then stopped... then a different 'chime' for the same segment the other way. This way the visually impaired could tell which direction it was safe to cross, and whether there was enough time to complete the crossing safely.

Now, I noticed this a few days ago, but this morning's incident with the speed demons drove it home again. Somewhere along the line, someone dropped the ball in a very big way. As I was crossing at the intersection just South of where the speed demons showed their mettle, I heard a chime while I crossed the smaller street... it continued right through the "countdown" that is now provided for pedestrians (visual only)... right through the red... right through my crossing of the significantly larger University Avenue (4 lanes each way)... right through the countdown there (which, incidentally begins before I can get to the centre median... if I, an able-bodied individual with a meter-plus stride can barely get across on one change of lights, what hope do most women, anyone in heels, kids, the elderly or anyone with a mobility handicap have?). No longer is there any difference in tone to indicate which direction it's safe to cross. No longer is there any audio cue to say "you know, you're probably not going to make it across before the traffic gets a green light, maybe you should wait"... nothing. It might as well not be there at all... it would, in fact, be SAFER if it WASN'T. Because the way it is now, visually imparied visitors to the city familiar with how these signals SHOULD work, are likely to step out into moving traffic... possibly in front of some dumbass with more horsepower than sense... and could quite possibly find themselves becoming acquainted with out healthcare system at best... and our funeral homes at worst.