Letters to the Editor - February

The Editor:

1. I am very pleased with the All Point Bulletin.

2. I am also pleased with traffic discipline at some intersections despite the absence of law enforcement coverage. But unhappy or ill at ease with problems at other intersections, especially Mill and Johnson roads where the county has decided that painted pavement stop lines would not be useful and so this intersection has become one of the most dangerous on the Point with Mill Road traffic especially, seldom finding how to come to a full stop.

It is commonly understood that pick-up trucks with blinding headlights assume they are noticed and may or may not observe intersections. I have taken to going very slowly through this intersection while on Johnson Road if only to show to Mill Road traffic that it is an intersection.

3. Many newcomers have moved to the Point in recent months and years. They should be welcomed with detailed information about locations of interest on the Point such as the major border as well as the east-west intersection at the entrance/exit checkpoints of Point Roberts, namely that this intersection is effectively no longer used as an intersection.

At the same time, newcomers should be advised that the entrance on Tyee Drive into and out of the supermarket parking area is a busy intersection, that is the one with the angling ditch across the entrance/exit that functions as an ever present interruption to shopping traffic; yes, it remains a paved angular ditch but nevertheless nearly invisible to cars turning into the parking area as well as jarring to any and all vehicles that enter and exit from the parking lot. It is of significance since it has been a hazard since I moved here in 2002. It is evident that none of the businesses or roads served by this parking lot think of this vehicular hazard as falling under their responsibility to repair, but someone has kept it paved all these years. It may be that one or another of the local businesses consider this hazard useful in slowing traffic down upon entering or departing this central parking area. But that is not their call to make.

4. The Point also has several intersections unmarked or poorly marked, but most local drivers approach these with experienced caution knowing that the through traffic is almost certain to be exceeding the speed limit. As they are also aware the county has not assigned any law enforcement personnel to the Point. Likely budgetary restraints and simple logistical and other difficulties are, as usually, blamed.

Campbell McClusky

Point Roberts