Dear Editor:
Signs, signs - everywhere are signs.
Just like the song, it seems you can't see the forest for the amount of new signs that have popped up east of Seymour. For some reason that is just too confusing to fathom, the district decided to put some Share the Road signs on Dollarton Highway.
The district must have received an exceptional two-for-one deal on these from their source. I counted 34 of these from the Second Narrows to Deep Cove - and that's just one side of the road. Now, I appreciate signs that are informative, helpful and for the public good - but one every block is ridiculous.
Who approved this? Factor in the cost of man-hours to erect each sign and we are most
likely talking about tens of thousands of dollars. There are so many of these on the side of the road, that not only are they visual pollution and distracting, but detract from the beauty of the area that we live in.
I know of one case where one Share the Road sign is actually covering a Deer Crossing sign, and any local resident will tell you that deer on Dollarton are a major hazard, and that you need to be aware that they could jump out at any time.
You could remove three out of four of these signs and someone new driving in would still get the message loud and clear: share the road.
In conjunction with the signs, the district has also painted large arrows with bikes on the lanes to further communicate to the supposedly illiterate masses east of the Seymour that we need to ride the centre line. We do this so that the bikes that now travel this bikefriendly highway can occupy one-third of our lane.
I have many bike friends who ride to work daily on this route and have no beef with that community. It's our own "district braintrust" who deemed it necessary and fiscally prudent to erect well over 70 of these signs. .. at our cost.
I would expect and demand that my tax dollars are put to much better use.
Dave Fraser
North Vancouver
