Practical politeness (or interaction without hostility) allied with civism (the willingness to police ourselves) is the cornerstone of our civilization and any improvement in these areas benefits us all.
Happily, although not much remarked, we have in recent years seen large strides forward in the civic awareness and practical politeness of Montrealers. People no longer try to push onto Mtro cars before the others get off and this helps the trains to run on schedule while the new, self-disciplined, practice of standing on the right on escalators allows those who want to get around more quickly to do so. In addition, it has now become routine for people to hold doors open for those following them and this makes for the more efficient and comfortable passage of all concerned. Politeness and consideration for others tends to breed more of the same and, in recent years, it has even become common for people to surrender their bus or Mtro seats to those only a bit more in need.
However, many of us who drive need to take a long hard look at our driving habits and consider ways in which a little practical politeness would help us all to get around more easily and more safely. The obvious place to start is with respect for pedestrians.
Every time that a motorist fails to respect the right of a pedestrian to lawfully cross the road that same impolite motorist helps to create demand for the installation of more and more traffic lights and stop signs so that pedestrians can get safely across the road. Thanks to rude, pushy and impatient motorists our Montreal roads are peppered with far too many devices installed simply to impede vehicle progress. As a result a simple drive across or around the city takes far longer than it should and the pushy suffer just as much as the polite while we all suffer from extra stop-and-go pollution and the costs related to lost productive time.
In addition, we have ridiculous made in Montreal' white arrow sequences at traffic lights to forbid right or left turns on green lights. These were originally installed to give pedestrians a head start' when crossing the road because Montreal motorists were reputed to disrespect pedestrian crossing rights on green lights. Consequently, motorists sit waiting to turn at green lights even when there are no pedestrians and trip times are unnecessarily increased. And, since vehicles cannot turn at the beginning of green light sequences, most protected (against the oncoming traffic) turn sequences in Montreal are at the end of the green cycle. This means that straight-ahead traffic gets blocked up behind vehicles waiting to turn at the end of the green sequence and traffic flow is significantly and unnecessarily compromised.
Practical politeness works. When I drive in the United States I observe that lane closures for road works or for other reasons rarely cause traffic back-ups whereas here they almost always do. The reason for this difference is partly because down there they usually have better signage to let the motorists know what is going on ahead of time but the main reason is that the motorists there are better trained and exercise intelligent self restraint by exiting the closing lanes as early as possible.
Up here when a lane closure is signposted many motorists actually change into that lane in order to get ahead' and then push back in just before the lane closure. Each of the resulting conflict' lane changes slow the traffic flow by five-to-ten kilometres per hour in the lane that they are pushing back into. The result is that the pushy, impolite motorists slow the traffic to a near halt, creating the very slowdowns that they were trying to avoid.
Similarly when traffic flow is unobstructed many motorists intentionally try to prevent others from changing lanes as if these were trying to take some unfair advantage. In fact, people have to change lanes from time to time and making it more difficult for them to do so only slows the traffic to the detriment of all. Letting another vehicle change lane may appear to cost' a few seconds in the short term but overall helps to reduce trip time by lessening conflicts and slowdowns.
Happily, over the last year or two, there has been an observable improvement in traffic sense in Montreal and it is common to see more and more motorists taking pleasure in yielding to pedestrians especially at intersections with no traffic lights or stop signs. It is true that pedestrians also need to improve their comportment but motorists clearly have to make the first gestures.
Every motorist is also a pedestrian and every time that a motorist is respectful of pedestrians there is a reasonable chance that the pedestrians will take these lessons to heart when driving their own vehicles. And, every time that a motorist is polite and considerate towards other motorists and pedestrians there is a positive contribution to greater safety for all and towards more efficient and smoother traffic flow which is also in the interests of all. Give it a try, you may find that you like it.
This author of this Article has choosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
» left by Gerry Charbonneau(367) Gerry Charbonneau (212 days 13 hours ago.)
Sometimes the pedestrian is totally ignorant of the actual mechanical operation of an automobile and its potential to stop on a dime. Many times when the roads are slick and icy pedestrians will amble to a pedestrian cross walk, press the light's arrow button and start walking into traffic unaware that drivers cannot safely stop their vehicles in precisely the same manner as in clear, dry weather. Drivers are equally culpable when they try to force the pedestrian to cross the street a bit faster. FInally the biggest culprit of all are the municipal engineers who design the programming of the lights themselves.. Some lights seem to actually force the pedestrian (young or old) to actually marathon it across the street in an unsafe manner. It's time we all rethink the whole aspect of pedestrian-driver respect and consideration. Good article.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
