Letter: Let us sleep: Either enforce the bylaw for ‘Jake brakes’ or build a ring road

By Letter to the Editor on October 9, 2024.

Dear editor,

Well, time is up to think about a ring road or do something about Bylaw No 4353.

It does say, “No person shall use retarder brakes to slow down or stop a motor vehicle at any time…”

This bylaw is a farce and as far as I can tell is not enforced at all.

We and many other people living on Red Deer Drive, which is parallel to Highway 1 between Sixth Street and First Street SW, have never seen any bylaw officers stop and issue tickets to these truckers who constantly use these so-called “Jake brakes” daytime and night time. It is not because they have no knowledge of this bylaw as there are signs at both sides of the city.

It is in my opinion and possibly others that they are sending all of us, and to the City of Medicine Hat, a message that they want a long overdue ring road.

Maybe more signage, higher fines up to $1,000 and more officers would be better, but I doubt it.

The truckers just don’t like the highway through the city. They hate these hills and don’t like having to stop at red lights in town in the middle of a hill. I don’t blame them.

You might say, ‘What about the businesses along the highway?’ Well, if you think about it, other cities have done ring roads and it never did kill any businesses.

That’s all we want to bring up, and maybe, just maybe, the folks along that stretch of road will have a good night’s sleep sometime soon.

Denis Gagnon

Medicine Hat

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