WATERLOO REGION GOVERNMENT WHY DO WE SO LOVE THEE?

You have to hand it to our regional government. They've really got their priorities straight. One bus driver has been charged (not convicted) with careless driving due to a serious accident with a pedestrian at a roundabout. The young lady has returned to school but still faces a challenging recovery. She is very lucky to be alive. Meanwhile there is an uproar over traffic circles although most of the criticism seems to be in areas of pedestrian use. This is understandable as the majority of car collisions are relatively minor but it's an extraordinaryly lucky day when a collision between a car and a pedestrian can be termed minor. Last Thursday (June 2/12) the Waterloo Region Record carried this story "Crash probe kept secret".

It seems that Big Brother at the Region knows so much better than all the rest of us. They are investigating the accident including reports to and from the regional police, the Ministry of Transport and documents to and from two "collision committees" at the region. The Record on the other hand "...has appealed to Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner for the internal collision probe, on the grounds that the public needs to understand the collision to assess if the roundabout is safe, if alterations made to it are appropriate, and if it could happen again.". Apparently the region feel that the public using these roundabouts on a daily basis should just trust them and not concern themselves when near fatal accidents occur. Once more kudos to the Waterloo Region Record for standing up for the public interest. The regional politicians on the other hand are a tad too concerned with their progressive image and don't want informed criticism on one of their distinctive showpieces, namely roundabouts.