Another year and yet another group of kids given the valuable lesson of how to stay safe on the road.
On Jan. 17, the Town of Westlock fire department joined forces with Westlock County’s fire department and peace officers to help educate the St. Mary Grade 9 class on the importance of road safety as part of the ongoing PARTY Program. It is a vital lesson absolutely everyone should have at some point in their lives — a lesson we hope the students take to heart.
These are lessons that many of us adults might sometimes take for granted too. We all use these roads and so we all have a collective responsibility to use them safely.
Several of us here at the Westlock News have noticed drivers getting a bit too enthusiastic about the sudden onset of warm weather.
Unfortunately, there has also been a number of accidents on the highways this past week, some resulting in life-altering injuries.
It seems that many drivers have forgotten the rules of the road since they last took driver’s training.
A recurring complaint we’ve received here from many first responders is that there are a few drivers who are not respecting temporary boundaries that are set up around the scene of a collision and are instead driving right through it.
At other times, drivers are failing to pull over to the right when an emergency vehicle is passing.
On at least two occasions in the last week, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and police officers have had to worry about traffic passing just feet away and disturbing an accident scene, taking away valuable evidence and more importantly, distracting them from their main responsibility of saving lives.
It’s not easy being a first responder.
Going back to St. Mary’s class road lesson, Town of Westlock volunteer firefighter Shauna Biro said that every call stays with them. Roads trigger memories.
As a community, we should make it as easy for them as we can by following the rules of the road.
