Poor Susan McNab

Every day as I ride my bicycle to work, I see motorists commit traffic infractions. Speeding is just normal, it seems. And at virtually every intersection I see one or two vehicles zip through as the light is changing from amber to red -- and often after it has already changed.

That's why I'm glad the city has increased the number of intersection cameras. 

But poor Susan McNab!

While taking her daughter to a dance recital in Edmonton, she was, in her own words, so focused on finding her destination that she ended up driving well over the speed limit through two intersections on 170 Street and earned herself not one, but two, speeding tickets.

She believes that two tickets 10 seconds apart is unreasonable and thinks she should not have to pay the second ticket.

Presumably, then, it is reasonable to drive 72 and 74 kph in a 60 kph zone?

And it is also reasonable to not pay attention to speed limits when driving?

Where was her attention? On her GPS? Her paper map? Google Maps on her phone?

Not on the road, at any rate.

Anyone who has driven this stretch of 170 Street knows that it is absurd to think the speed limit would be any more than 60 kph. This is a busy city street, not a freeway.

As Garry Shimko, the executive director of the city’s office of traffic safety says, "Each intersection is a high-risk intersection, so the point … is that we're trying to protect people at those locations because we don't want the crashes to happen."

And incidentally, if McNab was uncertain about her destination, how could whizzing along at more than 70 kph help?

I suggest that Susan McNab acknowledge the fact that she behaved carelessly on this occasion, pay her tickets, and chalk it up as a lesson learned. She should also count herself lucky that her careless driving did not result in a collision.

And when she is in the market for a new car, maybe she should consider one with cruise control!