Dear Editor:
My wife had a very unpleasant experience recently. After driving off the Bowen ferry, she was followed up the hill through Snug Cove by an irate motorist who began steadily honking his horn at her. She pulled over at the first available safe spot, by the BICS playfield.
The other driver got out of his car and confronted her, repeatedly yelling that her car’s bumper had come into contact with his car’s bumper on the ferry’s side ramp. She pointed out that her car had stalled and rolled back, that there was no damage, that it was imperative to unload before checking for damage, and that it was unsafe to stop in the Cove in the middle of heavy ferry traffic. The man continued to yell at my wife, even after she threatened to call the police. I urged her to file a report, with all the details, with the RCMP.
Unfortunately, this sort of thing is bound to happen again, or has already happened, to someone else. This situation was not my wife’s fault. I blame BC Ferries for having drivers park close together on the steep sections of the side ramps.
Her car is one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the road today. The trade-off is that her sub-compact, with a small engine and standard transmission, is more liable to stall and roll back when starting from a dead stop up a steep incline.
The space between cars on the incline should be significantly widened or perhaps sometimes cars should not be parked there at all. Drivers who are aware of the rollback problem should be allowed to refuse to be put in harm’s way by ferry personnel. Drivers who willingly park on the stern-most incline should be allowed to leave extra space above them.
We haven’t had a real winter since the ramps were installed.
I can imagine the potential for fender-benders a heavy snowfall could cause, when de-icer cannot keep up.
As for dealing with irate motorists, my advice for anyone caught in my wife’s situation is to turn right at Miller Road and pull into the RCMP office. My guess is that they have a protocol for dealing with road rage drivers.
Dale Hamilton
