The Need for a Crossing Guard at Old Weston Road and Davenport Road at 1:00 PM on a Weekday Afternoon.
by: Eric
Twice in a row I have been followed across the street by a crossing guard at the intersection of Old Weston Rd and Davenport at 1pm on a weekday afternoon and twice have I doubted the necessity of it.
I’m not one to needlessly complain about public safety but I am one to needlessly complain about wasted energy. I find “going through the motions” to be one of the rudest assaults on human dignity, and I think that this crossing guard assisting me in crossing the street (any street really, but this intersection especially) is just going through the motions.
Of course such a charge must be put under a rational analysis before being declared to be the affront I feel.
Here is the evidence that pertains to my personal experience:
1. I am not a child.
2. I crossed the street in a cautious and legal manner.
3. I have crossed this street, and many other streets, unassisted, many times before under much more unsafe conditions such as low light, hazardous weather and inebriation.
But life is so much bigger than myself. So let’s address the public evidence I see for not needing a crossing guard:
1. Davenport ends at Old Weston Rd and Old Weston Rd is closed immediately after intersecting Davenport, which means 99% of the traffic turns left off Old Weston Rd onto Davenport or right from Davenport onto old Weston Road which means a very low chance you will encounter any traffic regardless of lights if you cross Old Weston Rd on the south side.
2. Either street has very little motor traffic at 1:00pm on a weekday afternoon.
3. The only school it serves, Carleton Village Junior and Senior Public School, has its district limits very close to the intersection and therefore is not used by very many children.
http://www.tdsb.on.ca/moss/asp_apps/find_your_school/map.asp?focusOnSchool=5209
4. The school is not OUT at 1 pm.
5. I have never seen a child on either of those streets. And I live off Davenport.
Logically I cannot find fault with any of this evidence and therefore cannot see the need for a crossing guard at Old Weston Road and Davenport at 1:00pm on a Weekday afternoon
0/10
UNLESS the crossing guard has been given this position for some sort of a personal reason that I couldn’t possibly know about or have any reason to know about. And you cant go around in life thinking everything contrary to logic is based on people’s private personal reasons even though they all are.
