I’m going to start 2023 the same way I spent a lot of columns in 2022, talking about Blacktop Blockheads.
To be honest, I’m not sure if the drivers involved were Blockheads as much as just confused.
It was Friday evening, and I was headed east on Fifth Avenue, right near the spot where it goes through the S-curve to become Fourth Avenue. There was a vehicle about a block ahead of me in the right-hand (through) lane, and one about a block behind in the left (left turn on Winnipeg Street).
As we came to the lights at Winnipeg, I saw the vehicle ahead of me had its turn signal on – its LEFT turn signal!
I wasn’t sure if the driver had left their signal on from an earlier turn, but no, they made a left turn onto Winnipeg from the right-hand lane. Probably illegal, but there wasn’t a lot of traffic, so no problem.
I went through the light myself, then glanced in my rearview mirror and saw the vehicle behind me (you remember, the one in the left-turn lane) come straight through the intersection.
This was a matter of some concern, since the land they were in heading east was actually a lane designed for westbound vehicles.
As I said, there was little traffic, which was good, since it took the driver about three blocks to realize something might be wrong and change to my lane.
That stretch of road attracted a couple of notable events for me in the last week, including that one. Thursday morning, headed in to CFIS at about 4 a.m., I was coming up to that same S-curve, caught a glimpse of something out of the driver’s-side window, glanced over, and saw a deer just standing there.
It gave me a look as I went by as if to say, “What are YOU doing up at this hour of the morning?
I passed it by, looked in my rear-view mirror as I headed into the curve, and I’m pretty sure I saw a fawn tucked in behind the other deer.
It was an interesting way to finish off 2022 on a stretch of road I rive quite frequently. I wouldn’t mind seeing a few more deer early in the morning, as long as they’re not right in front of me, but I don’t think I want to see any more motorists who don’t seem to know how the roads in Prince George work.