IT SOMETIMES SEEMS that hardly a week goes by without our hearing about yet another

serious accident on one or both of Highways 9 and 10.

Almost invariably, we’re told that the crashes were the result of some form of human error or frailty. In the case of Highway 9, the two latest fatalities were both at intersections, with the victims having apparently committed fatal errors — in one case, attempting a left turn in the face of oncoming traffic, and in the other, pulling on to the highway in front of an approaching tractor trailer.

However, we would submit that in both instances the lethal crashes would not likely have occurred had Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation spent a little money on safety devices.

It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to devise a solution to the numerous crashes at Mono Mills that result from eastbound traffic trying to negotiate left turns on to Airport Road.

Clearly, all that’s needed is the same sort of signals found on Orangeville’s eastern outskirts — provision of a left-turn-only phase, ideally followed by a ban on left turns.

As for the more recent, two-death crash at the intersection with Caledon’s Mount Wolfe Road, the urgent need is for traffic lights plus a merging lane for the huge volume of traffic that makes a right turn en route to Tottenham and Alliston along this direct route to and from Bolton.

Of course, that intersection is by no means the only one that requires signals. Among the others are those with Heart Lake Road and The Gore Road (Peel Region 8) — both important commuter arteries — which because of nearby knolls have limited visibility in at least one direction.

However, in the longer term, the pressing need is for the Province to keep a promise, made by the Transportation minister when the NDP was in power (more than 10 years ago), to provide a fourlane roadway between Orangeville and Newmarket. The current design, with essentially no passing for eastbound traffic between Orangeville and Mono Mills, is notoriously inadequate.

And the same is clearly true for Highway 10 between Orangeville and Caledon village, where fatalities invariably involve at least an element of contributory negligence on the part of our highway planners.