Auto insurers operating in the Prince Edward Island area should prepare themselves this holiday season for vehicular accidents caused… by random acts of kindness.
Police in the maritime province have issued warnings to local drivers, telling them to stop being too nice to each other, after several accidents were caused by motorists stopping their car to greet another.
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Charlottetown Police Chief Paul Smith told
The Canadian Press that there have been at least two accidents on the city’s University Avenue in the previous week alone. In both cases, the drivers involved stopped and waved at acquaintances.
“A Good Samaritan gesture can sometimes have devastating consequences when you are looking at T-bone accidents,” Smith explained. “When you are looking at four-lane roadways, the obstructions that happen when someone stops — particularly in an inner lane to allow someone out — they’re not seeing what’s coming up on the curb lane.”
University Avenue happens to be one of the busiest four-lane thoroughfares in Charlottetown; business establishments line both sides of the street.
Smith warned that motorists trying to be kind might just cause further problems for everyone, especially when they are still in vehicles in the middle of a busy street.
“The flip-side is, if I’m the good Samaritan, I run the risk of being — in an insurance world — one of the causing factors of it, and who knows where that could lead,” he mused.
Officials continue to remind drivers to observe the rules of the road, even during the holidays.
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