Dear Editor,

I am writing about an alarming experience that I had with reckless driving on Calumet Island. Two children (aged – 13?) were driving dirt bikes, extremely dangerously on the road, almost causing two accidents.

I am hoping that someone reading this can identify these kids and alert their parents, so that they can stop these children before they kill themselves or someone else.

At 5:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 15, I was driving southbound on . . .

chemin Tancredia towards Berard’s Store. Approaching the intersection with Chemin Bertrand, I could see a kid on a dirt bike stopped at the intersection. His friend drove up very quickly, blew through the stop sign and entered the main road without even slowing down. He skidded around the corner, putting his foot out to stop the bike falling, pulled towards the side for a split second and then pulled out with his friend, right in front of my truck. By that time I was right behind them and could not stop. I clearly had the right of way and he endangered both himself and me by not stopping at the stop sign. I honked my horn and drove around them, shaking my finger at them through the window.

Less than a kilometre up the road is the three-way intersection with Montée Mgr Martel. The kids were speeding up behind me, to catch up. I made a complete stop to demonstrate the appropriate response to a stop sign. Instead of slowing down for the intersection, the kid sped up and tried to pass me in the intersection. Following that intersection is a small rise and corner, which means he was trying to pass me in an intersection approaching a blind hill. There was another vehicle approaching on the other road, luckily it was not close enough to cause an accident.

The reckless driving of these two children is a serious cause for concern. I hope someone can identify them and that their driving privileges will be removed, before they or someone else gets killed as a result.

I would have stopped the truck and spoken to them but the road did not allow a safe place to do so and I had to make it to a business before closing time.

Beth Gerow

Calumet Island, Que.