Too close for comfort
In the last segment of the previous season, Smells Like Yukon paid a visit to Yukon’s Medical Officer of Health to ask about some of the most dangerous activities in the Yukon. In the finished piece, we did highlight a number of serious dangers associated with the way Yukoners approach sex, alcohol and ATVs. But, for the most part, we tried to put a humourous twist on the exercise–for example, by naming Man Yoga and watching TV in Lobird as two of the most dangerous activities. The following bit also seemed kind of funny, if only half-joking:
“We were ready… with a barrage of questions about other life threatening activities. Like trying to use a crosswalk on 2nd Avenue….”
Given the events of the past week–a young Alberta woman killed doing this very thing–any humour has been completely lost. This is one of those situations where you wish that an effort at satire could have fallen way off the mark; instead, it seems to have hit the truth head-on.
As bad as we should all feel for the victim and her family, Whitehorse drivers shouldn’t be too quick to judge the person behind the wheel, whose life, you’d imagine, has been destroyed in an entirely different sense. You don’t have to spend much time driving in the Yukon’s capital, and down 2nd Avenue in particular, to realize that 90% of local drivers should be saying “There but for the grace of God….” How many of us aren’t guilty of driving down 2nd Avenue with excessive speed, impatience or carelessness on a fairly regular basis?
Clearly, Smells Like Yukon’s attempt to raise a serious issue in a not-so serious way didn’t do much to make the crosswalks on Whitehorse’s busiest street any safer. We can only hope that a tragedy can finally succeed where comedy failed.
There’s a serious need for Yukon drivers to take a more vigilant approach behind the wheel. Collectively, we’ve been too cavalier for too long. It’s time to smarten up. And until that happens, pedestrians beware.