Orderly Affairs □ Wills & Estates Eric Watson Lawyer 1-800-579-5338 or 352-3321 608 Baker St. 354-4089 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2000 ESTABLISHED 1988. SERVING NELSON & THE WEST KOOTENAY VOLUME 13, NUMBER 6 Still time for Life OnOurStreets NELSON - It's not too late to get in an entry for Life on our Street, City of Nelson Millenium Committee's "know your neighbour" project. Life on our Street is "an invitation to groups within the community to join forces" and do something as a neighbourhood, says organizer Peggy De Vries. Although the Millenium Committee put out the idea some time ago, entrants have been slow to come in. "We'd really like to see more entries," said De Vries. Entrants so far have Giving Tree at the Dancing Bear Inn will brighten Christmas for some Nelson people who need a break. Students in Trafalgar Junior High School's French promised to put on a variety Immersion class decorated the tree with cards bearing the names of women and kids who are staying at the Transition House. Your part is easy - pick up a card, of events, including a pot buy a gift for the person named on it, and bring it back to the Dancing Bear by Friday. See story on page 3. luck with nine families, a "doggy birthday party," and RCMP data shows Kootenay a party in the park. You have until the end of the year to get your entry drivers worse in good weather in. Forms are available at City Hall and the CIBC. by Steve Thornton mostly in snow and ice, these kinds of condi- 16 to 25 are way down on the list for that stretch tions? What we found is, surprisingly, the vast of highway, tied for last place with women and NELSON - Statistics and the organizing power majority of accidents happen when it's nice out." men aged 56 to 65. But over on Highway 3A, in of the computer may help police reduce traffic You can see why that happens, says Gaumont, the 20 kilometres between Castlegar and South accidents here. when you look at what's causing crashes: "peo- Slocan, while young male drivers are just as like- The West Kootenay Highway Patrol has a new ple not paying attention." ly to crash (25 per cent of crashes) young Motor Vehicle Incident (MVI) database on their When it's snowing, people drive more careful- females are almost as likely to be in an accident, computers at the Nelson subdivision, a file that ly. When the sun shines, they don't. representing 15 per cent of the drivers who contains so much accident (police call them The database points to lack of attention and crashed. "incidents") information it almost seems the lack of maturity as prime causes of accidents in Why? "The college is there," says Gaumont. Mounties could predict the next crash. But rather the West Kootenay. Because the Selkirk College campus is there, SWEET & SMOOTH than simply forecasting bang-ups, they'll try to For the 35-kilometre stretch of North Shore more young women are on the roads in that area, page2 predict ways to stop them. highway from Nelson to Balfour, "driving with- and so are involved in more crashes. The database looks at many factors, including out due care" tops a list of 11 accident causes. It seems logical. However, RCMP are still COMPUTERS road conditions, driver age and sex, time of day Second in frequency as a cause of accidents is corning to grips with the new database, which FOR THE PEOPLE and month of year, as it assembles charts of acci- weather. Third is alcohol. Fourth is failing to comes out of files sent from the Insurance page3 dent why's and wherefore's. Local roads are bro- yield the right of way. Corporation of BC, and it'll be a while before ken down into two-kilometre stretches, and even Falling asleep and following too closely are at they really understand the causes of crashes. The CABIN PRINT more narrowly-focussed areas, that locate acci- the botton of the list. City of Nelson may get involved in the program. page9 dent trouble spots. Stats on age groups show "no surprises," says "We're interested in discussing it with the Editorial • . . •.•. .4 · Sgt. Norm Gaumont is the Highway Patrol offi- Gaumont. Males from 16 to 25 years old are the RCMP," said Nelson City Police Sgt. Gerry Street Talk ••••• .5 Leisure •..•••.. .6 cer running the MVI database, and he says it most likely to be involved in a crash, represent- Myers. And next year, Gaumont wants the pro- Calendar •...•.. .8 reveals a great deal of information - some of it ing 22 per cent of the accidents on that stretch of gram to reduce accidents here. Classifieds •••. . 10 unexpected. road over the past five years. Next week: How the numbers might help save Horoscope •... . 10 "You may wonder, are accidents happening But there is, actually, a surprise. Females from lives in the West Kootenay. 1006 'lbll lNe: Ul77-544-1 St. Nellon www.vallullla-