Proof: Motorcycling Leads to Confusion
Last week I was driving south along Townline Road here in Cambridge, toward the site of the new RIM Centre, home of the Waterloo Predators (Names are based on pure speculation and is not to be taken as fact; Site location, however, is based on conjecture, and may be treated as such). This section of Townline is a two lane road, yet some guy on a motor bike travelling north was passing in the centre of the road, between cars. Which brings me to one of the funniest stories of the week:
About 40 motorcyclists from across the province held a rally at Queen’s Park yesterday calling for stiffer penalties for motorists whose actions put bikers’ lives at risk.
“Bikes have a right to share the road and we need to cut down on the carnage,” said Brian Burnett, provincial vice-chairman with Bikers Rights Organization Canada. “The province set up new laws to stop street races. We want to see changes to the Highway Traffic Act regarding the usually lax charges laid in regarding tragic collisions with bikes.”
The group took part in a Fallen Riders Memorial Awareness Ride and held a ceremony for 67 bikers killed on the road since the late 1960s.
Burnett said as many as 40 bikers can be killed on Ontario roads every year.
Because I’m responsible for clown boy passing cars in the middle of the road. Or that guy last year who was driving on a 410 exit ramp at over 200 KM/ hour.
I have always been amazed that I am not allowed to drive to the grocery store at 40KM/hour, without a seat belt, but these guys can drive 100KM/hour on the highway with, as cousin Eddie would say, “nothing between the ground and my brain but a piece of government [approved] plastic.”
With that in mind, they should be careful what they ask for. When Dalton McGuinty sees that 40 bikers a year number, he will be looking to ban bikes; that’s how he solves problems. But really, should they be asking for greater protection from drivers until they have done more about the lousy bike riders on the road. They are out there, they are a legion, and anybody who drives regularly sees them everyday in the summer. It’s not all of them, certainly not, but it’s enough.
But none of that is why the story is so amusing. It’s the last line that makes it so:
The biker group also wants the province to strike down the mandatory helmet law.
Dalton, freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy, Funny., Humour
Ok, this speculation about the Predators moving to the KW/Cambridge/Guelph area has got to stop. I lived near Listowel from 74-78, then in Elmira from 78-91, and in north Waterloo from 91-93 before coming to Ottawa. My parents, pretty much my entire extended family as well as some good good pals of mine still live there so I’m qualified to comment.
First of all, the area has very little corporate presence to speak of outside of RIM and Manulife. Everything else is small business and what’s left of the manufacturing sector is in steep decline. Moreover, I doubt that the universities or Conestoga College would pony up the cash for a couple of boxes in a new rink. The PR optics would be deadly.
That brings me to my next point. This new facility would be filled for between 41-55 nights a year if you add the regular season and the playoffs together. What about the other 310 days a year? I doubt that many of the bands who are touring in the area and already playing London and Toronto would also stop in Kitchener. Whenever wrestling, monster trucks or whatever else comes to town, it’s barely a break-even proposition, too, so strike that.
Finally, the people of KW who are hockey fans go to Ranger games because it’s cheap. Hardly any of them ever really try to get Leaf tickets and they also hardly ever go to Buffalo or Detroit as an alternative. In other words, although the region is prosperous, well-educated and interested in the sport, I don’t see people coughing up $400 for a Monday night game in November against the Minnesota Wild.
As for Hamilton? I don’t see that happening either because the arena is outdated and the numbers for the Bulldogs are frankly garbage. If a team is going to come to southern Ontario, I’d suggest that a renovated John Labatt Centre in London is a far better bet than KW for sure and likely Hamilton as well.
Hammer, I thought I was clear. I was not speculating that the Predators would come to town, I was conjecturing.
As to your, Hamilton is too small, &tc. All why Cambridge makes sense. There are parts of Cambridge that are 20 minutes from Hamilton, 20 minutes from K-W. Better yet, nearer the 401, I can put you within 30 minutes of Hamilton, 20-25 minutes of all of K-W, 15 minutes of Guelph, 30 minutes of Brampton-Mississauga and 40 minutes of London. You know what the generals say when discussing war strategy – study the map. Cambridge makes geographic sense.
Whether it makes business sense, that’s another matter. But one things for sure, Balsillie didn’t buy the Predators to keep them in Nashville.