Letter: Sudbury drivers hit the road like NASCAR

An open letter to those who think they’re auditioning for NASCAR: When deciding on where we wanted to buy our new home, we chose to purchase in a small town outside of Sudbury because the community was quaint and the house we found was close to a park and splash pad. 

We have a young child who spends a lot of time playing at these places during all different seasons, as do many other families who live on our street.

Among the large numbers of children on our street, there are also lots of people who have a pet as a member of the family. I have seen people chasing after a cat who has gotten out of their house, read posts about lost dogs who slipped their collar or went under their fence. I see young parents walking down the street while their child, who is just learning to ride their tricycle, proudly rides ahead of them, seniors who are doing their exercises walking about and stopping to chat with neighbours, delivery services bringing groceries and parcels to the homes of my neighbours.

Something else that I have noticed since moving into this little town is the cars and trucks flying down our streets, using our roads as a racetrack. 

These vehicles, at all hours of the day and night, are not only putting their own safety at risk, but also the safety of the ones we wave to every morning on the way to work, the safety of the kids who my daughter plays with at the park, the safety of my 95-year-old neighbour who is out on his daily walk. 

The people who have such little regard for others, who think that showing off how fast their vehicle goes is “cool”, are risking running over someone’s beloved pet or running into the person who was hired to bring us our Amazon packages. 

Newsflash, all our vehicles go the same speed, but most of us choose to obey the law and protect the families around us.

Please, while you’re pushing your foot down on the gas pedal, consider the people you love and care about. Think about how you would feel if their community constantly put them in danger. It doesn’t feel so nice now, does it? 

The speed you are going at is not only going to damage your vehicle potentially or someone’s home one day, but inevitably going to seriously injure or kill somebody that someone cares about.

I am begging you, as a mother, wife, daughter, friend, pet owner, community member and decent human being, please slow down. I should not be terrified to have my child play outside or head to the park to play with her friends because of the wannabe race car drivers zooming down our roads.

Jenny Labrosse

Sudbury