Sunday, May 16, 1999 Oakville Beaver Weekend 17 4 FOCUSon Transportation Inside: • Ontario Road Safety Challenge •Young Drivers International uses proactive driving stategies • How antilock brakes work A SPECIAL FEATURE BY Focus on road safety in OakviUe By Stephanie MacLeOan SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER A re the roads in Oakville safe? Apparently not, according to the 1997 Ontario Road Safety Challenge, a competition held to determine which community in Ontario has the safest roads. Oakville ranked 11th out of 13 participating communities. The competition is an initiative of the road safety office of the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) whereby communities are ranked based on their local rate of reportable collisions per capita during a period of one week. The Challenge is an effort to bring the issue of road safety to the pub lic's attention. "Road safety is a big problem that we need to look at," says Patti Eix, co-chair of the Oakville Road Safety Coalition, the group that coordinates the local Challenge. "One way to raise awareness is to partici pate in the Ontario Road Safety Challenge." This year, Oakville will compete with 34 other com munities between May 30 and June 6. To enter, each community is required to hold three events in the same week that the collisions statistics are measured. The event to kick off the Oakville Challenge will be the Car Rally for Road Safety. Starting at 8:30 a.m. on May 30, entrants will drive their cars through "every traffic situation known to mankind in Oakville." The competitors are not judged on their time, but on how well they perform in various situations. The grand prize is a one day course at Skid Control School for the win ning driver and the navigator. "Besides educating people about road safety, it should be a really fun event," adds Eix. There is a $10 registration fee for each participant in the rally, which will go toward bringing the HEROES program back to Oakville in February, 2000. HEROES is a program directed at teens to promote smart choices. (See page 19) The long weekend starts here. (f||his long weekend, get where you want to be in a car from Hertz. If you're looking for great cars, great rates, and great service, we're the best place to start. 842-3180 263 S p e e rs R o a d O ak v ille Hertz rents Fords and other fine cars. ABC DEF 1 CM C O Fed Up With Voice Mail? POWELL INSURANCE BROKERS A family business since 1954 Premium Service at Premium Savings