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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 28, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager Myth of teenage invincibility May has proven to be a tragic month for young drivers in Ontario, which doesn't bode well for the immediate future as summer vacation -- a time that sees even more teens on the road -- is still a month away. This past Sunday proved especially horrific with two separate accidents in neighbouring Milton -- one at 3 a.m. and the other at 5 a.m. -- that claimed the lives of three teenagers and left two other teens seriously injured. Two of the teens who died were ejected from the vehicles. These fatal crashes occurred a week after a holiday weekend that saw: · A teenage driver killed and three passengers injured when a minivan lost control in Markham; · A teenage driver from Barrie charged after police clocked a vehicle at 239 km-h in an 80 km-h zone. Police and emergency personnel agree that parents must "look at themselves when they hand over the keys." "They (parents) are part of the equation," says outspoken OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley, who has seen more than his share of carnage on the roads. Too many young teens want to be cool by driving too fast, he said. "Parents should know that as registered owners (of the vehicles) they are responsible civilly," he said, adding they are open to lawsuits. Joanne Banfield, who runs the trauma injury prevention program at Sunnybrook Hospital, also agrees that parents need to step up. "We've got to give our heads a shake," Banfield said. "Parents need to step up and have conversations with their kids." Obviously it is impossible to know where and what your teens are doing at all times, but questions must be raised when young people are driving in the middle of the night or early morning, are not wearing their seatbelts, are driving at more than 150 km-h over the posted limit or are drinking and driving. Banfield says since some youths make bad choices, it is up to the parents to play the "heavy." Some teenagers believe they are invincible when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle. It is up to parents to ensure their kids know that invincibility is a very real and deadly myth. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR I became very angry when reading your lead article Builders and Chamber call for lower development charges, Oakville Beaver, May 23. Development charges exist to compensate the community for the additional infrastructure costs incurred due to development. It is obvious that the current level of development charges is inadequate as the Town proposes to increase them. In other words, the current level of development charge is a subsidy to developers and new Builders should be charged for entire cost of new development businesses. The Oakville Chamber of Commerce and BILD, however, think that the charges are already too high, putting Oakville at a competitive disadvantage in attracting new businesses and making new homes too expensive. That is simply blatant, self-serving opinion that supports growth for growth's sake and protects developers' profits. I, for one, do not want any further growth in Oakville. Oakville's appeal as a place to live has deteriorated in lock step with growth over the nearly 30 years I have lived here. If the Council won't stand up to growth targets set by the Province, it should at least demand that the Province build the major infrastructure necessary to cope with those growth targets before that growth occurs. Council should establish development charges for residential and commercial development that fully cover all the resulting lesser infrastructure costs such as schools, streets, water and sewer lines, parks, etc. In addition, those charges should include fees for the dirt, noise, and traffic disruption caused by such development. If the development charges do not at least recover all such costs, they are a direct subsidy to the developer/incoming business paid for by higher than necessary rates on existing property. R. F. ADAMS Raise development charges Pud Re: Builders and Chamber call for lower development charges, Oakville Beaver, May 23. The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) has done us all a favour by opening BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com debate on the development charges builders pay to cover growth-related capital costs. They are right that change is needed. With the lack of increase in public transit and other facilities in Oakville the development charges clearly aren't high enough. Anybody who has driven around North Oakville, and folks, you have See Builders page 9 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206,Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981.Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline.