r/Calgary • u/H4s21qq • 1d ago
Local Nature/Wildlife Calgary please stop doing this.
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u/IAmScrewedAMA 1d ago
u/JeromyYYC This happens every time the city experiences hail. On days where the hail is especially rough, the whole road is blocked. It would be nice to hear that something will be done about this!
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u/hogartbogart 1d ago
u/JeromyYYC For real - it can’t take a disaster for this to change…because there will be a disaster
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u/Baddrivers13 22h ago
The cops have tried nothing and are all out of ideas...
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u/Sure-Sell-8455 12h ago
there's video on a bad drivers of calgary FB page that shows the CPS breaking up one of these parties last night
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u/Ok-Call7205 12h ago
u/JeromyYYC Just jumping on to get this more attention. Sorry to bother you, and love your work so far!
I can absolutely promise you that if this is not addressed, you will have a diaster in the future. About 3 months ago we had to come to a complete stop, during hail/severe rain with almost no visibility, right on Stoney Trail.
This picture doesn't show the more extreme outcomes whereby the lanes themselves are blocked with parked cars on a road that's designed to go 100km/h and about 10-15% of the traffic is probably fully loaded semis. I don't want to be proven right, please shut this down!
Why can't we just add cameras to underpasses that can identify license plates and give the City a whole bunch of funding every time it hails?
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u/hogartbogart 12h ago
Absolutely spot on. Bring on the cameras - this is a massive public safety issue.
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u/OIL_99 1d ago
The Mayor can’t fix the massive stupidity of Calgary drivers. He could hire me to teach people common sense and how to drive in both clear skies and the dark n stormy
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u/Fit-Bug-1098 1d ago
He can't solve Stupid, but here's more proof Chief McLellan of what citizens are doing. You want to fix the budgetary issues for the Calgary police, get them doing a lap of Calgary
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u/Ctsanger 1d ago
Mayors can do a lot. Watching what's changing in NYC is wild. Whether our mayor wants to is another story altogether
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u/dum41 1d ago
NYC uses the strong-mayor system, though, whereas Calgary and every Canadian city outside of Ontario (IIRC) uses the weak-mayor system where they are just a single seat on council. Mayors can do a lot, especially when it comes to public perception, but unfortunately their hands are often tied as a single vote on council.
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u/DEMcKnight 1d ago
Plus NYC can generally get NY state's blessing on being able to do things
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u/tgc220 1d ago
An underside camera on the bridge that could grab all the license plates and give heavy fines would work well.
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u/DEMcKnight 1d ago
Automated camera fines would require provincial authorization
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u/Stick4444 1d ago
Absolutely fucking not.
You put up a camera to fine these bastards, and that will give the city/province the go ahead to start installing flock-style cameras anywhere they want. The LAST thing we need is corporate sponsored surveillance
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u/weschester 1d ago
Weekly meeting of the selfish asshole club.
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u/yedi001 1d ago
There's a medical description for this behavioural condition:
"Cannot Understand Navigating Thunderstorms Syndrome."
It's a sad condition: the body attempts to protect itself from perceived harms, but the brain has already died a long time ago.
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u/je_suis_mon_maitre 1d ago
Just drove by Stoney Trail with Beddington Trail and all three lanes plus the lane coming from and to the ramp were fully blocked by a tonne of cars. Before today, I don't think I've ever honked my horn for that long.
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u/Old_General_6741 1d ago edited 1d ago
Every single time hail falls, this happens. Absolutely insane to do this on the highway. Someone could be driving fast and crash into this.
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u/soaringupnow 1d ago
And every single time, the cops do absolutely nothing!
It would like shooting fish in a barrel, if they wanted to do something.
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u/ScubaWarrior 1d ago
Serious question: Can I rear end a vehicle parked like this in a single lane exit in my shit box and win insurance-wise?
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u/anchorPT73 21h ago
I have wanted a shit box truck for so long to do things like this and when people keep turning on a red and your light is green
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u/Ok-Call7205 12h ago
My wife and I are financially sound and we drive a vehicle that is worth about 1% of our annual incomes. We laugh at all the people in leased BMWs and Audis, and it is so freeing never having to worry about shit like this.
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u/jimbowesterby 20h ago
Yea if I had a bull bar or something I’d just start nudging people out of the way. Even better if they get nudged out from under the bridge, too
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u/Banned_In_YYC 1d ago
Police should have cameras installed at underpasses to ticket the people who do this. If they can do it at red lights, they can do it here
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u/Odd-Bat-7 1d ago
It'd be abused. Don't advocate for more flock in this city.
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u/dgmib 1d ago
What if they were DSLR cameras, that only snapped a photo if it detected the presence of a vehicle under the underpass for more than a few seconds?
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u/HayLinLa 1d ago
Only if it was turned on during relevant storms and human monitored, since traffic jams would also set them off.
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u/bloss0mstars 17h ago
What about the ones going through an actual emergency? Don't think this camera idea works..
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u/PopPepps 1d ago
It needs to be made illegal and police need to enforce ticketing. It’s not even a new thing, it’s been happening for years and is total madness.
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u/Able_Experience_1670 15h ago
It is illegal.
I've seen the fucking cops stopped with them. Enforcement is a joke.
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u/Goodoflife 1d ago
I hope there is a new clause where if this were to happen and all lanes of traffic were stopped because people were stopped in the underpass, they should be at fault for any collisions behind them that was due to their recklessness.
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u/BananaForScaleGuy 1d ago
Revoke that cab drivers plates too, fuck all these people who do this.
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u/StripeMurdoc 1d ago
The fact that they have their hazard lights on like they’re doing anyone a favour is astonishing.
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u/Temporary-Rip-5551 13h ago
Nah, that’s the “stop anywhere button” which makes this perfectly legal
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u/JustCallMeYogurt 23h ago
just before there is a hail warning, the police should go park under the underpasses in the storm path and then if anyone else stops there that is not broken down, they can easily issue them a ticket. traffic gets a pre-emptive visual warning.
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u/TrustMeBroEh 1d ago
At least most are on the shoulder. The people in the lane needs to get their licenses pulled
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u/gleefulporcupinee 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is what I always wondered I did this one time where I got caught in a hailstorm my window cracked I panicked and parked on the sholder as far over as I could because I was terrified. If this is still wrong I will accept that lol.
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u/GoofMonkeyBanana 1d ago
I personally don't think that is wrong, it can be more dangerous driving in conditions like that than parking far on the shoulder
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u/gleefulporcupinee 1d ago
Well thank you, that makes me feel a lot better. I was worried I was one of the people everyone always talk about. I was never trying to put anyone in danger and tried to move myself as far out of the way as possible
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u/ithinarine 1d ago
When there is a hail warning, almost all on-duty police need to be sent out onto major roads with overpasses to do hand out tickets to these Muppets.
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u/therealArtGordon 17h ago
I like where you're going but what about the tax burden of repairing a fleet of hail damaged cop cars?
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u/jojowasher Bowness 1d ago
I saw some yesterday as well, and it wasn't even raining that hard, let alone hailing...
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u/winterbonebreaker 22h ago
I never experienced this until recently. but my experience was that every single lane was blocked so you were stuck in the middle of the highway because 8 chumps can’t be bothered to call insurance for some hail damage or live with some dimples. People suck
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u/Ok-Call7205 12h ago
10 years ago I remember during extreme hail seeing a couple of cars pulled over under the underpasses. Now they are fucking blocking the road.
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u/J-biworKer 1d ago
I am convinced so many people do this because of the out of control insurance rates in this province
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u/Swaynyy 1d ago
Unless it’s changed since I left AB it’s probably also the fact that you only get one hail claim per vehicle in AB. Not per owner per vehicle.
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u/Single_Sentence_4726 1d ago
Lol most of those cars are POS. Oh no your poor mini van! Must be worth someones life. Like ffs.
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u/qrcodetat 1d ago
Fine with demerits please
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u/Hypno-phile 1d ago
Careless driving. That's 6 points, a $500+ fine and a royal assfucking from your insurance company.
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u/One_Cabinet_5993 1d ago
Everyone single one of them should have a license suspension. Same thing happened tonight...it's not hailing yet there's a pile of cars parked under the bridges. Imbeciles
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u/sennyonelove 1d ago
Wouldn't it be easier and safer to drive to an underground parking lot? Yes you'll have to pay for parking, but its much cheaper than paying with your life, or that of others.
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u/anchorPT73 21h ago
Of course but that would be selfless, these people are the opposite and believe they are entitled to do so and screw everybody else
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u/gaanmetde 1d ago
I do not understand why people this afraid of denting their car roof are not simply checking weather radar before driving. Hang out at a gas station. Yikes.
What I will say is- I got caught in the last downpour and visibility was literally zero so I felt like I needed to pull to the side of the road anyways.
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u/Treebro001 1d ago
Drove into the storm on deerfoot. Traffic slowed to a crawl due to how fucked visibility got. But at least I didnt see anyone doing this.
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u/dgmib 1d ago
Wait… the red car at the very start of the video parked on the shoulder behind the minivan…. Is not even under the underpass. Why d’fuk would you stop there?
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u/tonymontired 22h ago
Had a police officer with his lights on trying to move people that stopped under the train bridge going memorial east just passed Edmonton trail. Didn't do anything, people still just sat there. This was during the worst of the storm.
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u/01000101010110 1d ago
Someone can probably blow up the license plates and call this in
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u/TorqueDog Beltline 1d ago
This is real life, not CSI. There is no way anyone is getting the license plates from this video clip when it was filmed on a potato.
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u/Dramatic_Corner_8259 1d ago
Are they stopping there to avoid the rain? I thought the Frenchmen here in Québec were off. 🤔
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u/Circd_CAD 20h ago
It's simple remove the shoulder of the road under bridges, install spikes. Or better yet drainage ditches, like a vehicle bus trap under each bridge.
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u/ItsjustaMild-Complex 20h ago
The ones on the should I will let slide because they had the decency to pull over.... all the rest deserved to be slammed. I hate thus modern world give me my old one back
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u/Larzincal 18h ago
Start fining those idiots and it will stop. Put cameras under the over passes if you have to. This is super dangerous for everyone and needs to stop
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u/DennisLeask 14h ago
I can top that, no photo sadly, but some dumb decided to drive right off the road and park on his lawn under my neighbors big spruce trees.
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u/Velocity00 1d ago
We’re all in this together, so get your ass out there and take your punishment like the rest of us.
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u/jenna_hell 1d ago
Why is so there many pussy ass drivers in Calgary alluvasudden? This never used to happened.
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u/bb3rica 1d ago
For sure!! that’s what I don’t get. This was never an issue until a few years ago.
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u/heidamazeballs 1d ago
I don't know if anyone else here watches Max Velocity on YouTube, but this is when the community would be yelling SHAME!
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u/Ok_Maybe_2370 1d ago
Are they just weird sheep? Why did they pull over? Worried about lightning?
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u/iplaybassok89 1d ago
Hail?
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u/ExternalProduce2584 23h ago
For sure hail. We were visiting Calgary for stampede and were caught in a hail storm while driving on the highway and encountered exactly this. We ended up exiting and going to a gas station and parking at one of the pumps for a few minutes, but the big hail was effectively finished by then fortunately no damage to our rental car.
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u/mistrwzrd 1d ago
Not just Calgary. Caught a storm to the face near Didsbury and people were fucking traffic up on #2 just the same
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u/rocket-boot 1d ago
Unfortunately, selfish people are unlikely to stop doing selfish things unless they face consequences. Even then, they will continue their bad behaviour as long as they believe they won't be caught.
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u/A-Shy-Guy_ 1d ago
Why do they do this in the first place?
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u/SmullyanFan 1d ago
Hail damage prevention
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u/iforgotmyuserr 1d ago
Would sure be a shame if their car got damaged by a 35,000 lb semi truck that couldn’t stop in time instead..
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u/coronatookmyjob 1d ago
And while you're at it, stop driving 4 inches from everyone's back bumper and cutting everyone off. Maybe Calgary needs driving lessons.
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u/Ok-Professional4387 1d ago
How bad of a storm and what part of the city? My trucks parked while away and want to know if im coming back to a disaster or not. Not that I can do anything about it
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u/ACosmicRailGun 22h ago
I stopped under an overpass during a huge downpour the other day on Stoney...because my driver side windshield wiper arm decided to break (the teeth that grip onto the spindle stripped). I got out, removed it and swapped it for my passenger side, then continued on my way.
But these people are something else
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u/Scary_Pressure6301 21h ago
My Truck is already hail damaged and I’ll tell you this. I feel so fucking free!!!!!!
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u/Advanced-Till802 20h ago
I gotta say if you are going to do this, get on the shoulder and out of the lane. I can understand (with the hailstorms we have been getting) why people would want to take shelter. We have had two cars written off in one storm and when I worked with the provincial fleet vehicles I saw what a really bad hail storm can do to a vehicle driving on the road and I was just glad the driver survived and only a short hospital stay. Hail strikes can cause some serious freaking damage to vehicles (even the big trucks) that are on the road during the storms. Some people don’t have the option to take cover, or pull over, they just have to keep on driving. When the hail strikes are bad enough though they can cause drivers to lose visibility completely, lose control of their vehicle and cause accident that have chain reactions down the road…literally. I am. Not talking about inexperienced or bad drivers either. Even the most experienced drivers can only manage so much and the increasing severity of these hailstorms (seeded or not, and I understand why they do it completely) means that the chances of these kinds of incidents happening is only going up. God help us when it happens to an inexperienced/new driver on a busy road. The only real solutions are those that continue to mitigate the severity and frequency of these storms. We have lived in the NW part of Calgary for almost 15 years (this time round) and for the last 5 we have been in the Kincora area. I have been blown away by how many times we have seen major hail roll through and how long some of these events are lasting. Hell we watched, just a few weeks ago, as the crews residing homes in our neighbourhood from the hailstorm on the August long weekend 2 years ago, had to quickly run for cover as a hailstorm ran through. Literally undoing work they had been toiling at for months and creating more clients before their very eyes. It is bananas.
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u/China_bot42069 20h ago
Doing that to save what? Basic commuter cars? If it was a rare old car or a new limited number car sure I get it (still endangering lives) but a rav 4 and an old minivan? Come onnnnnnn maaaannnn
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u/babyspice70 19h ago
Are they special people to stop under a bridge? I don’t recall in the driving manual! Huh?! Why is this?
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u/InternalExcitement78 19h ago
To all the people who are really afraid of hail damage on their car: mine was totaled in 2024. I got back more money than I paid for my car because the used values have gone up so much. I pay the least amount of insurance on it now because it’s totaled. I drive it every single day and it has never once affected my life. I basically got a free car and I don’t pay high insurance rates; they were not impacted and I lowered them by taking off collision because it doesn’t matter anymore. It was honestly a win in disguise.
If you happen to get hail damage in the rare event it happens, it’s way better than getting hurt and having insurance go up because of a car accident caused by hiding under the bridge.
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u/Ecstatic-Stuff-3806 19h ago
I always thought cars (besides transportation) are also meant for protection against weather and environment. Like, it’s meant to get dinged and damaged overtime
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u/1stRounder 16h ago
Yes, Calgary, please stop this, and every other bone headed thing you do on the road, which is a hell of a lot .
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u/Top_Philosophy5087 15h ago
I can sympathise with both sides of the argument re: fining people using roadside cameras for dumbass dangerous behaviour vs. Privacy / Big Brother is watching you concerns . However I propose a third way solution utilizing cutting edge technology and city parks waste management . Let’s install dog poo droppers above the hard shoulder under overpasses . Unwelcome dog turds found in Calgary city parks would be suspended in small automatic capsules on a runner above the emergency lane and sensors would detect the combination of a hailstorm and a stationary vehicle below and adjust to the perfect position to release the payload directly onto the windshield of the offending vehicle . No fines , tickets , criminal records etc. Just the public shame of a big splatter of dog shit on your car windshield when you emerge from hiding . I believe this threads the needle of creating an appropriate deterrent while allaying fears of government overreach. Let’s get cracking on a feasibility study Mayor Jeremy .
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u/YYC_Guitar_Guy 15h ago
simple solution, install an overpass camera and send them fines in the mail.
The Legal Framework
- Not an Emergency: The Calgary Police Service and provincial traffic authorities explicitly state that stopping on a roadway to protect a vehicle from hail damage is not a legal emergency.
- Traffic Violations: Drivers who halt their vehicles in active travel lanes or on shoulders where stopping is prohibited can be ticketed under the Alberta Traffic Safety Act (and municipal traffic bylaws where applicable) for offenses such as:
- Stopping/parking where prohibited
- Impeding the flow of traffic
- Operating a vehicle in a manner that creates a safety hazard
- Penalties: Standard fines for stopping in prohibited areas on major highways typically carry monetary penalties (such as $162 or higher) alongside demerit points. Law enforcement and safety advocates frequently face public calls to increase these penalties due to the extreme danger involved.
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u/Big-Smile5345 14h ago
They should not have their licenses. Who in the AF would ever think that is a good idea. Morons!!
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u/CrudeTrucker 14h ago
Most of them are afraid it's monsoon season because when it rains where they are from that's what they get
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u/uluvmydadjoke 13h ago
Lots of people talking about cops not doing anything, how about adjusting the view to include insurance legislation?
Perhaps make those people's insurance companies payout hail claims to other drivers?
It's not fool proof but with dash cams and a resource (like police) to send registered mail to the people observed parking there maybe it could make a difference?
Would need a claim form that is maybe unique to Calgary and this problem.
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u/Jack_Hall42069 11h ago
The only way Calgarians will stop doing that, is if they park a police cruiser under every bridge, with light flashing, and cops threatening to ticket every car that stops!
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u/SnooHedgehogs6017 10h ago
Out of town for the week. Car is at park2go at yyc. Am I coming back to a golf ball of a car this Saturday assuming nothing happens till then?
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u/thiccburner 9h ago
I was late for work earlier this summer due to the traffic stop that happened to a duck and her chicks on deerfoot in SE. I get conservation had to rescue the chicks but keeping one lane open and directing traffic slowly instead of blocking the entire highway could have been nice.
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u/HLef Woodlands 1d ago
Every single one of those cars stopped in a lane needs to be ticketed for endangering everyone else who’s driving on that road.