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6 Independent & Free Press,Thursday, October 13, 2011 OPINION Blame the turkeys Maybe it was the stunning weather. Perhaps it was the thought of enjoying a turkey dinner with all the trimmings at a relative's house. It could have even been the chance to enjoy one final day at the beach or cottage. Or maybe--more likely-- it was that many Ontario motorists left their common sense at home this past weekend. How else can one explain that, provincewide, the Ontario Provincial Police laid a total of 10,531 charges over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Anyway you look at it, that is both an astounding, and disturbing, number of charges. Among those 10,000-plus charges were: · 6,065 charges for speeding · 124 charges for drinking and driving offences · 87 charges for street racing · 1,013 people were charged for not wearing seat belts · 306 were charged with distracted driving And these were the drivers OPP officers caught breaking the law. How about the ones who were fortunate enough to escape the long arm of the law? Clearly, there are far too many drivers on the road who either shouldn't be or who are in serious need of retraining. Ontario's seatbelt law has been in effect for more than 35 years, yet over the weekend officers were able to nab more than 1,000 people for not wearing their seatbelts. How can it be that, for many drivers, the message has not sunk in that seatbelts save lives? You don't see people smoking in public facilities anymore, yet anti-smoking laws have only been on the books for a fraction of the time the seatbelt law has. Why the public adherence to one law yet not to another? Obviously, turkeys weren't only on dinner tables this past weekend-- they were on our roadways as well. 905-873-0301 Publisher: Ken Nugent General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@theifp.ca) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifieds Kristie Pells (classified@theifp.ca) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) Letters policy Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Steve Nease Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Letters to the editor Traffic woes not helped by officials Dear editor, Signs in opposition to the new GTA West Corridor highways proposed for north Halton are popping up like mushrooms these days. It's good to see a community come together to fight a common cause. One of the major concerns expressed is the potential for loss of prime agricultural land. I find it interesting that this concern is expressed in your paper, more from what I've read, by the non-farming community. The front page story on August 18 regarding road rage facing our local farmers and the congestion on our roads deserves more attention. Well respected local farmers were quoted as saying how dangerous the roads have become, that it's not worth the aggravation and risk and "one of the major reasons so many famers have left and moved from Halton and Peel". Let's now consider what our local politicians have done to alleviate this situation; unanimously approved a huge warehousing facility on Steeles Ave. that would have brought hundreds of trucks onto our roads daily. Less than a kilometre further along Steeles Ave. approved a "Premium Outlet Mall" with 100 commercial outlets which, for those of you who are not aware, is a destination shopping center that will bring thousands of shoppers and their vehicles onto our roads. A similar mall to this one, managed by the same Simon Property Group, Inc. in Grove City, Pennsylvania, on one weekend in 2006, created a traffic jam 16 kilometres long! It's good to see that our elected officials stand firmly behind our citizens to thwart a solution to our traffic congestion problems. Is it just about the money or is there an election coming soon? Rod Eller, Georgetown house league baseball alive in Georgetown over the next few years. We will be having a general meeting Thursday, October 20 at 7 p.m. in the Cedarvale Community Hall (Maple Nursery School) to help set up a new group to continue girls softball in Georgetown. Please attend this meeting if you have any interest in helping out. We hope you will remember the Georgetown Kinsmen Girls Softball League with fondness. Jim Ford and Dr. Ron Lefebvre, Kinsmen Club of Georgetown Vandals target signs Dear editor, We have placed many lawn signs in the area for opposition to the Hwy. 4-3 proposal. Before we place the signs we speak to every owner and get permission to do so. It would appear that the signs are now the target of vandals who are removing them at night. The area which seems to be targeted is along Five Sideroad. It would be sad if we have to file a police report and have charges laid of mischief or vandalism and would ask that they be returned back to their original locations. Wendy Bruchal, Georgetown WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.independentfreepress.com) With the Liberals now running the province with a minority government, will it run better than when they had a majority? · Yes (35%) · It will make no difference (33%) · No (32%) Final out for Kin ball? Dear editor, We would like to thank The Independent & Free Press for their coverage of Kinsmen Girls Softball over the past many years. Unfortunately due to declining enrollment and difficulty finding volunteers, this was the last year that the league will exist as the Kinsmen Girls Softball League. At our Day of Champs, Jim Ford and I had many people approach who expressed interest in keeping girls' The Independent & Free Press The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.