Highway mailbox 'very dangerous,' man argues
Last Updated: Friday, July 30, 2010 | 8:01 AM AT
CBC News
Canada Post is insisting that a P.E.I. man move his mailbox from his driveway back out to the highway, despite his arguments that it is safer where it is.
'Tractor-trailers and general traffic far exceed the speed limits posted, and we feel it's dangerous.'— John Newman
John Newman lives in Springfield, on a busy stretch of Route 2 between Charlottetown and Summerside. A few years ago, a crash at the end of his driveway left one person dead.
"The position that they insist on having the mailbox situated at is very dangerous," Newman told CBC News Thursday.
"Tractor-trailers and general traffic far exceed the speed limits posted, and we feel it's dangerous for [the mail carrier].… If she has to sit at the side of the road there, it just needs one just to deviate and it could just annihilate her, and that's what we worry about."
Because of his concerns, Newman moved his mailbox 10 metres off the highway into his circular driveway. Canada Post has been reviewing the safety of rural mailboxes around the Island, and a few days ago Canada Post employees knocked on his door and told him the location of his mailbox was unsafe, and that it had to move back to the highway if delivery was to continue.
"Even if it was safe from a delivery perspective in a circular driveway, there are other liabilities and other factors that come into play," said Canada Post spokeswoman Genevieve Latour.
Those other factors include the possibility of a child suddenly running in front of the mail carrier's car, or a blocked driveway requiring the carrier to back out onto the highway.
Newman insists his driveway is still safer than the highway.
"Summer and winter, if the mail lady is on the road that circular driveway will have been cleared a long time before that," he said.
Newman has agreed to move his mailbox, but he wants Canada Post to reconsider and make an exception. Canada Post said the decision is final.
