Dear Editor,
I am generally one to defend the brave men and women who protect our citizens from crime and fire, provide rescue services and generally work a job that I would not.
However, I must point out a recent observation. On May 14 there was a traffic incident at the intersection of Big Rock Trail and Southridge Drive, affecting northbound lanes. Traffic was snarled in all directions due to an abundance of emergency vehicles, some of which were parked on the road. One northbound lane was open.
The incident had been moved off to the side and the tow truck was working to remove the damaged vehicles. I counted no less than 12 firefighters and police officers literally standing around in a circle, talking.
Traffic around them was in total chaos, no one knew if the road was open or if they were permitted to turn north from Big Rock Trail, and not a single one of the people in uniform were bothered enough to provide basic traffic control.
Emergency vehicles were parked so as to block the view of oncoming traffic if attempting a left turn anywhere in the intersection, and no one seemed to care.
How simple would it have been to take control of the intersection and provide some direction? This is Okotoks — a little bit of arm waving would have returned traffic to nearly normal, but no one with authority cared to solve a solvable problem.
Cameron Olson
Okotoks
