Iqaluit pedestrians: beware of drivers

I am from Iqaluit where the roads are always slippery in the winter, starting in October.
 
I want to urge you to be careful and look both ways when crossing any road and street.
 
I almost got hit this morning by a woman in a grey vehicle when I was crossing a road when I was not paying attention and I had my hood on.

She honked her horn, but I couldn’t hear it very well, because my hat and hood muffled my ears. When I was in the middle of crossing the one-way road walking towards downtown, the vehicle stopped and just barely touched my hip.

On that intersection, I find that drivers don’t stop to let pedestrians cross. I’ve experienced that many times, where vehicles would just zoom by me and I can’t see them because they are coming from behind and I am not looking when I cross.

When the woman stopped at my hip, all of a sudden there was a small traffic jam. Some big white truck was tail-gating the woman and a taxi in the opposite direction was honking for them to get out of the way as the woman was aggressively waving at me to get out of the way.
 
Yesterday I saw a person lying on the ground near Tittaq on that intersection, and the ambulance rushed over to pick up the body. I don’t know any details of what happened to that person, though it shows that anything could happen with the slippery roads out there.
 
My boyfriend always warns me of terrible, impatient drivers and I understand why he tells me to be so careful — for my own health and safety.
 
So I also urge you to be cautious, as the roads are slippery and drivers seem to be going at normal speeds even on black ice.
 
Also beware of snowmobiles, as they are just getting out now and there were many accidents last year.
 
Jennifer Soucie
Iqaluit


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