It is a concern when you look at the amount of vehicles cruising around Kelowna with just a single person in what appears to be the majority of vehicles.
It’s no coincidence the high occupancy lane along Highway 97 sees the least number of cars, even if most using the HOV lane, also have just a single person in it.
But is there really a disconnect between what is one of Kelowna’s biggest issues (traffic congestion) and one of the world’s biggest issues (climate change)?
Judging by at least some of the comments on our website, there are some that are not relating traffic woes to climate change, however it would be hard to argue that, in general, Kelowna people are not aware of climate change issues as they relate to vehicles.
It’s just hard to figure out what to do.
How are people supposed to get around, take the kids to school, get to work on time and run around doing a million things we all seem to be doing these days? Who’s going to make the decision to start walking to work when it’s just not feasible for many? In this day and age in Kelowna, it’s hard enough to find a place to live, let alone one close enough to your work to eliminate a vehicle.
Not everyone has the money to move into the high-rent district so their family can walk to work and school. It’s just not an option.
So rather than belittle the citizens of Kelowna by saying their heads are stuck in the sand, how about we come up with some concrete solutions and ideas? The City of Kelowna has done a great job of creating a bike network and pushing bikes over cars but still, who can ride from one end of the city to the other for work?
If you listen to the experts, they say building more roads will enable our traffic problem to get worse. So we need answers. We need vision. We need everyone to try to do their part, whether in parking the car, growing more food, riding a bike, and teaching children a new way of doing things.
We need our politicians to help lead us to this new way of doing things, spark our interest, lobby for change, help improve transit options. We don’t need them to tell us we aren’t paying attention.
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kparnell@kelownacapnews.com
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