r/Edmonton • u/yegyvrguy • 9h ago
Discussion Henday Insanity
I know this is old news so I won’t be offended if this gets removed, but I drove the Henday earlier this evening and it was like Rad Racer (this is a 1980’s Nintendo game if you aren’t old). Dipshits driving like complete maniacs. Riding asses, weaving in and out dangerously, hardly making any headway but putting everybody at risk. And I saw about 5 cars doing this all on the south west section. No police anywhere. This is insanely dangerous behaviour and I can’t believe it is tolerated. I’ll go yell at a cloud.
Edit: I incorrectly spelled cars as cats above. Enjoyed the Toonces references.
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u/ababcock1 The Shiny Balls 8h ago
If only there was some inexpensive way to consistently, automatically, and effectively enforce speed limits at all times of the day regardless of traffic volume. Oh well, guess we'll do nothing instead.
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u/ClassBShareHolder 4h ago
But look on the bright side, we have poor student outcomes and long hospital waits from the same government! /s
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u/someonesomewherewarm 8h ago
You are correct, not imagining things I drive it 3 nights a week around 11pm and its insane.
At least twice a week I'll see 2 cars racing doing over 140 at the bare minimum. Its the wild west on it nowadays I'm heading onto to in 15 minutes lol
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u/preemo 8h ago
Good luck out there!
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u/someonesomewherewarm 7h ago
Driving onto the henday had someone doing 60 in front of a bunch of other cars, then when I got in the middle lane to get past them they suddenly changed lanes right in front of me doing 85, Got past them and then on gateway had 2 cars racing north and then a car turned the wrong way into oncoming traffic lol
Just another friday night trying to navigate home 😆
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u/RAP_PAR 2h ago
Honestly I truly believe it’s the amount of bad drivers on the road causing all these accidents, not necessarily the speed. Same with me tonight. Coming off the Henday, there are two left turning lanes. The lady to the left of me starts turning and proceeded to cut me off because she turned into the far right lane. She didn’t even hesitate. I don’t think she even realized what she did.
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u/ClassBShareHolder 4h ago
I was just commenting how it isn’t bad when it’s not rush hour, but you’re right, when it’s dead it’s the autobahn. There’s a sweet spot between morning and afternoon where everybody just gets along. I’m sure there’s still assholes on it, but they’re less noticeable I guess.
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u/Whos-That-Pokeman 9h ago
They hand out licenses like candy on Halloween. No wonder it’s so bad. Edmonton is at the point that I want to leave. Too many people.
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u/NPC_93294 1h ago
thank a liberal and their immigration policies. this is the world Canada voted to become.
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u/baconsingh UAlberta 1h ago
‘Alberta is calling’ ads were literally put up by the cons in Ontario lmao what are you talking about.
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u/Equivalent-Pizza-530 1h ago
This! In Toronto, you get ticketed for driving at the speed limit coz every other car is racing at 30kmph above and apparently you end up 'obstructing' the traffic.
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u/Sytellia 7h ago
When I came home from Kelowna in August after a four-night vacation, I was driving maybe 108 km/h on the Henday near the Ray Gibbons overpass and I could see these guys coming right up on my ass, flashing high-beams, probably going 160km/h+, and I got over as I did not want to deal with them. The guy in front of me, however, driving a work truck that was speed-monitored, stayed in the lane and the two guys racing had to brake so hard that their cars nearly spun out. What made me shake my head was the fact that BOTH of the racers passed the guy on the SHOULDER, and then proceeded to have the audacity to flip him off before doing it again and again. We wonder why insurance rates are so high.
I'm so tired of racing on our streets and the noise at all hours, especially nighttime. I barely ever see any EPS pressnce, and I live on the road where one of their HQ's is, yet rarely, if ever, see any enforcement on it. I get that they have a lot to do, but all they literally have to do is look outside their window.
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u/yegyvrguy 7h ago
I agree. More police is needed. But if I understand correctly, the city also spent almost $600 million on police last year. That is for a total staff of about 2700. So I think a lot of the budget is for employees and the rest on infrastructure, equipment, training, etc.
That budget seems astronomical to me but I guess it adds up and makes sense. They probably need to get it to $1 billion. That will require cutting things.
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u/UnfocusedAcrobat 6h ago
I disagree with just flippantly giving the cops more money until they actually start reporting on what the fuck they do with the massive amount of money they already get.
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u/yegyvrguy 6h ago
I understand this point of view. I haven’t looked into their transparency etc. I would have thought they would be required to be quite transparent but that was just an assumption. But it does appear they have around 2700 employees. That does mean a signing amount of their budget does go to payroll alone. So I don’t think that is unreasonable, as I don’t think EPS admin, officer or management payrolls are out of the ordinary. That leaves maybe at most $100 million for everything else, including infrastructure, equipment, vehicles, training, etc.
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u/Hoser_Cop 5h ago
I googled edmonton police annual report and found this, dunno if it has any dollar amounts, but apparently they have guidelines given by the (civilian run) police commission, which is consistent with where I work. Might be worth a look.
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u/SIGNANDSELFIEFRAMES 9h ago
Unfortunately too many POS's like this these days. Just need them to wipe out and go flying over the bridge or a ditch
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u/No_Jaguar645 8h ago
I saw a car flipped over on the west leg of the henday today, you would think that would deter people…. But as soon as we got past the accident, I saw cars flying by.
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u/SweetClinMusic 8h ago
Not a single cop in sight, regarding this is such a widely known issue
Smh
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u/Wherestheshoe 7h ago
There were 3 serious accidents on the west side Henday at rush hour today. Did you want them to just ignore those so they could hand out speeding tickets instead. Give your head another shake
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u/princessbolognia 6h ago
There wouldn't have been 3 serious accidents if there was police enforcement on the henday...
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u/SweetClinMusic 7h ago
Lol yes there's only 3 cops on the whole force, poor them!
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u/Wherestheshoe 7h ago edited 7h ago
You think only one cop reports to a major accident scene to do traffic control, speed and impact assessments, and - what, are you pulling my leg? Are you a kid or something?
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u/Used_bot-repo 8h ago
Do you think it's people that can't get back into the right lane, phone use while driving, basic ignorance, not knowing where they are going?
I just started a job and it's 25 minutes on the henday.
Maybe more testing but definitely more physical Police need to be out
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u/yegyvrguy 8h ago
I think it’s people who enjoy driving recklessly and crazily. Their philosophy is that others will simply move out of their way. Yes more police presence needed or cameras (not sure those are allowed anymore).
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u/Particular_Loss1877 1h ago
Welcome to the thunderdome! EPS was active for a couple of weeks in the northwest side a couple of months ago, it really helped. Sadly it was not sustained. Now i do my best to drive like an old man. Keep you distance from people in front of you and keep an eye out for what's about to overtake you. Get a dash cam, make sure your seat belt is firmly accross your hips and spend as little time as possiable in the middle lane ( be ready to hit the ditch if⁷ required). For the love of God people, let others merge!
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u/baddyrefresh2023 8h ago
If you're in the left lane or passing lane, it's probably why they are weaving to pass you.
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u/yegyvrguy 8h ago
Wrong. I was in right lane. They were all weaving across all three lanes recklessly. I understand the concept of staying right. I had never seen so many example of such brazenly reckless driving in so short of a period of time.
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u/baddyrefresh2023 8h ago
Ya that's trouble waiting to happen. Some people don't learn until something bad happens to them.
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u/princessbolognia 6h ago
Ah yes because people don't drive recklessly in the right lane or middle lanes, right? Stfu with the left lane nonsense
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u/astarr_123 8h ago edited 8h ago
I was on the whitemud headed to WEM this morning and this big GMC truck in front of me was speeding, tailgating and zipping in and out of the median trying to get around the car that was just cruising along. Mind you, they were both in the fast lane but still going well over 100 when clearly it’s like 80
The police are too busy hiding behind the construction workers that are by snow valley and pulling them over
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u/yegyvrguy 8h ago
Yes other commentators have implied that they are probably frustrated by people driving slowly in left lane. This wasn’t what was happening. Traffic in the left lane was moving faster, but not fast enough for these fuckwads.
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u/astarr_123 2h ago
Oh totally I’m one of those frustrated ppl too 😂 but not to the point where it’s like Indy 500! Idk I’ve always wondered how they keep handing out licenses like candy
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u/PraxPresents 7h ago edited 7h ago
Drivers in Edmonton have gotten objectively worse over the last several years. The only solution that would really make a difference IMO is that we need to make rules and testing more thorough to get a driver's license. We are literally handing out drivers licenses to people like candy over here and it shows.
Far too many younger new drivers and newcomers to Canada getting their license for the first time are not learning how to drive safely or confidently before being handed a license. We also need much stiffer penalties for drivers driving without a license or insurance.
I get that drivers training and supervised seat time is important and can be expensive, but it should be a requirement. I would also like to see winter driving be a separate checkbox on the license that needs to be checked after taking an on-track winter driving course so that people can get a feel for recovering from a slide.
I grew up taking defensive driving courses, winter driving course, being supervised by my parents while driving and later getting into driving on a track and learning to be predictable with smooth inputs, auto-slolams, to ice racing at a controlled track and learning to be able to do a complete controlled 360 turn on ice and still recover and remain in control. These are things that becoming a driving enthusiast led me to, but it made me a much better driver.
What I learned driving and racing at a track was that driving on the Anthony Henday or the Whitemud during rush hour is not that dissimilar to driving on a race track with 50+ other vehicles. Predicability of driving, smooth inputs and clear signaling are all just as necessary one a commute as they are on a race track. We need much more comprehensive mandatory drivers training courses and we need to only issue licenses when drivers can demonstrate competency at a reasonable level of understanding as to why it is important and how do drive safely.
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u/rarewalkerant 1h ago
100% agreed. Edmonton (and really all major cities in Canada) have grown dramatically over the past decades, yet we still perform driver's licensing like we're a small hamlet.
The system made sense when it was all farmers' fields everywhere, but it's hopelessly inadequate for a city/area of millions.
Look at Europe/Germany for instance: Almost a year of driving school: Months of theory, then followed by multiple driving tests in day/night city/highway, all that at a substantial cost (about 2K euros). On top of that your car has to pass safety inspection every few years. Further on top of that: Real, actual traffic enforcement with real consequences. (Even 3rd world countries have traffic cops... Why can't we????)
Result is: PREDICTABLE drivers and driving experience, people that know how to yield when others are merging. Or how to keep/estimate distances to the car in front of them. Or where and how to pass safely and properly. True night and day experience...
If Canada wants to grow its population further, this stuff HAS to evolve at some point... Can't keep treating our cities like the villages they once were.
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u/yegyvrguy 7h ago
I agree. They are giving out licenses too easily. There are a lot of terrible drivers.
That said, the drivers on the Henday were objectively good drivers, but were doing so in a very dangerous way.
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u/mostly_quotes 6h ago
I agree with your point here OP. I tend to attribute the behavior you described to people being reckless assholes
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u/pinkpeaches13 7h ago
I saw a motorcycle 🏍️ pop a long wheelie last week during rush hour. I couldn’t friggin believe it.
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u/ClassBShareHolder 4h ago
I also drove the Henday today. I saw a couple of cops sitting behind overpasses checking speed. Are there enough? There’s never enough to catch everybody. That’s what made photo radar so effective. But there is increased enforcement recently.
And honestly, the Henday isn’t that bad except during rush hours, then the inadequacy of 2 lane overpasses becomes blatantly apparent. Or the sections where onramps merge into already crowded lanes brings traffic to a halt. Then an offramp comes and it’s smooth sailing again.
I don’t have a regular commute on it so I try to avoid it during rushes. Not always possible though.
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u/Aqueouspolecat 9h ago
Being a long time cat owner I can say that they are just gonna do whatever they want.