'Nice person' accidents flagged by police
'If you have the right of way, use it'
After several accidents in one week caused by people yielding their right of way, police in Summerside, P.E.I., have issued a warning.
Motorists, please don’t be the “nice person” who waves a driver across 2 lanes of traffic! Although you may have good intentions, this leads to collisions! There have been several collisions as a result of this in the last week. <a href="https://twitter.com/TrafficPE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TrafficPE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DriveSafe?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DriveSafe</a> <a href="https://t.co/4loHW402QI">pic.twitter.com/4loHW402QI</a>
—@SsidePoliceThe accidents happened when drivers waved through a vehicle at a stop sign, indicating they could pass in front of them. But that led to collisions when the driver moved into a second lane of traffic.
"The good Samaritans are trying to be courteous and nice to the other motorists that are on the road, but they're unintentionally creating some very dangerous situations," said Summerside police Sgt. Jason Blacquiere.
"Our message would be that if you have the right of way, use it."
Summerside police recently posted a diagram on their Twitter feed showing how these "nice person" crashes happen.
Blacquiere said he doesn't know whether this happens more on P.E.I. than in other jurisdictions.
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With files from Angela Walker