Re: Better signage wanted on dangerous Gillespie Road (Letters, Oct. 19)
I’m tried of people complaining about dangerous roads. It’s not the road that is dangerous, it’s the people driving it and the way they drive. There are certain laws in physics that work hand in hand. When it comes to driving the most important ones you need to consider are friction and inertia. If you don’t know what they are, you can look it up on the internet.
For instance, you drive on a dry road under best conditions doing the speed limit, friction and inertia are well balanced. Now you add rain or ice into the mix it becomes a totally different animal. Rain is obvious, you can see it right away. If you have to scrape you windshield in the morning, chances are pretty good that there might be ice on the road somewhere along the way.
Under those conditions, you’ll lose a lot of friction and that changes the balance. Look at it from the point of an equation and the result is, that what you lose on friction goes straight towards inertia and your ability to stop in time. All the gizmos and gadgets (stability control, ABS, all wheel drive) that are nowadays more or less standard in modern vehicles still can not defy the laws of physics.
There are of course other factors that play an important role: the conditions your tires are in, what kind of tires are on your rims, your suspension and many more.
Sorry to sound like your high school teacher, but really? It’s not the road, it's the people driving it and how they drive it. Thousands of people drive those roads daily without a problem, even when the road is wet or icy. So quit complaining about the road, obey the rules of physics and everybody will be just fine.
Stefan Nowak
East Sooke