Safety comes first with vehicle lights
I appreciate great advice to learn to adjust my mirror when driving my “peanut car” in front of a large pickup. But we, drivers of peanut cars, know this is not a solution.
And what should I learn to adjust when this large pickup is coming towards me? That vehicle can see mine very well, but I might be blinded, lose control, swerve and here we are, both inconvenienced, if not worse.
Some manufacturers of luxury vehicles are working on this issue, but the rest of us will have to put up with this situation for much longer. There are so many ridiculous features on today’s cars that you can use while driving, but headlights are not specifically addressed.
The solution is in regulating the vehicle manufacturers regarding the effect of blinding lights they install on their product, and making it mandatory they are not disturbing and distracting for the oncoming vehicles.
The same goes for a turning signal. They should all be yellow instead of tiny red blinks that on many vehicles are hard to see no matter how much attention you pay. Safety first.
Nina Frankl
Saanichton
New doctor structure doesn’t reward efficiency
I am a community family doctor in Victoria. While I recognize that the proposed new billing system will benefit a significant number of family doctors, it seems to have a significant flaw. It doesn’t reward efficient work; it rewards the opposite.
I have prided myself on becoming more efficient at my job over the years. I have two young children and time is my most valued commodity.
When I am working, I am “locked in” to complete my tasks. In general, this equates to me spending hours less time than my colleagues to do the exact same amount of work.
I do not take “shortcuts” or rush my patients. I have worked hard to run my practice efficiently. I also do not see more patients per hour than my colleagues.
As outlined in the new billing system, I will not be making any significant gains in income. On the other hand, a lot of my colleagues will benefit from increased indirect patient care income and make significantly more money than me for doing the exact same amount of work. Taking longer to do a task results in monetary gain.
I recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but unless there is a general increase in fee codes and visit-associated time modifiers, my style of practice is not rewarded. This is the exact opposite of any other job I have encountered — taking less time to complete your tasks is generally encouraged and rewarded in the work industry.
Should a contractor hired to pave a city road be paid more than another if they take longer to complete the job? Numerous other examples exist.
An example in the medical field would be our hospitalist group at the local hospitals. They all carry the same patient load and are paid the same based on a day’s work. If one hospitalist takes eight hours to round on 20 patients, should they be paid more than the hospitalist who takes six hours? Under the new proposed family doctor fee schedule, this is essentially what will happen.
Dr. Stuart Marshall,
Moss Rock Medical Victoria
Senior managers get credit for water
Re: “Special thanks for our ample supply of water,” letter, Nov. 1.
The letter-writer asks whether it is “possible to identify, recognize and honour those who … conceived of, advocated for, designed and constructed the raised dam” on Sooke Lake Reservoir which has an ample supply of drinking water for the capital region after our historic summer drought.
The answer includes many people, but primarily they are the managers and staff at Capital Regional District Water and the local elected officials who were on the CRD Board and the Regional Water Supply Commission in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In particular, senior managers Jack Hull, Gordon Joyce, Peter Malone and G.S. Irwin.
Their insightful decision to expand the storage capacity of Sooke Lake Reservoir was not an uncontested policy decision. Some concerned citizens and environmentalists argued against such a course of action both at the political level and, with the assistance of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, in court challenges in the B.C. Supreme Court and in an appeal to the B.C. Court of Appeal.
Following the conclusion of legal proceedings, the dam at the Sooke Lake Reservoir was raised six metres in 2002, which doubled the water storage levels to ensure an adequate supply of clean safe drinking water for those areas of the growing population of CRD served by regional district water. Since 2002 the annual water conservation rules assist in maintaining adequate water supply levels in the reservoir despite the ever-changing and unpredictable climate-crisis weather patterns on south Vancouver Island.
Guy McDannold
Shirley
Atmospheric river or a Pineapple Express?
There has been lots of confusion concerning the difference between an atmospheric river and a Pineapple Express.
An atmospheric river is a general term for heavy rain occurring in a fairly narrow geographical corridor. A Pineapple Express is an atmospheric river that originates from the Hawaiian tropics.
Pineapple Express storms bring heavy rains and warmer temperatures. Our current atmospheric river originates from the north. This is why it is not as warm is it is during a Pineapple Express.
Steve Dove
Victoria
Nature’s ball bearings need a warning
“A rock-solid idea for describing this” in Nov. 2 letters mocks the road department’s “loose gravel” sign. In fact there is a big difference between loose gravel on an paved road and a well-constructed gravel road.
If you are driving on a paved road and its traction has been compromised by gravel, due to construction or spillage, a warning about the presence of nature’s ball bearings is a prudent safety measure.
I bet if there was no warning, and the letter-writer lost control of their vehicle, they would be complaining about the lack of signage.
S.I. Petersen
Nanaimo
More silly signs, please, we need the laughs
I loved the short note from David Kirk about loose gravel. It made me laugh, after perusing through a litany of tragedy, horror and sadness in the newspaper.
These are issues I can do nothing about except feel terribly sad. Maybe we should all “look out” for silly signs that make us laugh, each new one posted on the comment page.
Sally Barker
Victoria
Yes, there is a use for gravel that is loose
Re: “A rock-solid idea for describing this,” letter, Nov. 2.
When is gravel not loose? Well, two instances: when it is scattered on hot tar, and trapped in the set tar as a method of resurfacing a road; and when it is thrown on setting concrete to create a rough, or decorative, surface.
There is a variation on the last, called, I believe, pebble-dash: small gravel-sized pebbles are thrown on to fresh stucco on the side of a house and those that don’t fall to the ground remain embedded as a decorative element.
Perhaps, the term continues as a hang-on from the days when tarring-and-gravelling the roads was a common practice. Is it still done today? It involved the use of a steam roller to force the gravel into the cooling but still soft tar.
Wm. Thompson
Victoria
Animals give a hint of how humans live
Re: “Good health and a happy planet? Go vegan,” letter, Nov. 2.
The doctor from the Faculty of Medicine at UBC states: “Animals raised on factory farms are drugged, endure crowding stress, have little access to outdoors, and live in the stench of their own excrement.”
Sounds very much like the future for Canadians living in the downtown core of our cities, including downtown Victoria.
Doug Turner
Victoria
For a good diet, try moderation
Re: “Good health and a happy planet? Go vegan,” letter, Nov. 2.
In her letter, the good doctor makes a blanket condemnation of all meal plans that include animal-sourced foods, as well as shaming noted physicians who prescribe diets that include them, not to mention our own Eric Akis.
As she is a professor in medicine, she ought to know bad science when she sees it. I have to question her assertions that since she is a vegan, we must all be vegan.
To rebut, the science is not at all unequivocal. Too much meat or other animal-sourced food is harmful. But so is too many carbohydrate meals containing any grains; it will cause your blood sugar to rise dramatically and have very deleterious effects.
Moderation is the operative mode here. By asserting that any indulgence of any food but nuts, beans and berries is harmful, when only overindulgence is, the author negates whatever claim to objectivity she may have had.
Humans are omnivores. We are built that way. Some may, for reasons of their own, choose to eat meatless meals, and do very well with that. Most of us, however, eat meat to one degree or another. And we are healthy and, perhaps as important, happy to do so.
Michael Pollen said it best: “Eat food. Not too much. And mostly plants.”
The professor needs to go back to school.
David Hansen
Victoria
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