'Roll' right on up

Whether you're the leading surgeon in your field, or whether you work for your friendly community newspaper, the majority of us have one thing in common - the need for the early morning coffee.

Now that it's "roll up" time again, each and every one of us instantly gulp down our hot drink to see if we've won one of more than 31,000,000 instant food prizes.

In this part of the province, it isn't a good time to be a fan of the roll up contest. With snow seemingly 10-feet high on each side of Airport Blvd. in Gander, getting to that coffee has taken on an art of its own. It isn't so bad if you have to turn right off of Airport to get to Tim Horton's. However, if you're turning left, you could be in for a long, confusing wait.

Sometimes you have to get in line behind the other drivers turning left who want that coffee at 8 a.m., and sometimes you have to wait as drivers turning right get there before you do - even though you've been sitting in the same spot for 10 minutes. Sometimes there are three lines of vehicles in the entrance - one going to Tim's, and two leaving (one leaving to turn right, and the other left). If that's the case, you have to get into the drive-thru line just to get to the parking lot to find a parking place.

It's utter confusion when a plethora of coffee lovers arrive at once. Even those who don't want coffee can get caught in the crossfire.

Here's a description of what you can find early in the a.m. You can find a line-up of cars with its left turn signal blinking, and you can find a line-up of cars with its right turn signal blinking. Meanwhile, the front end of one car is in the line-up to go through drive-thru, and the back half is blocking traffic on Airport Blvd. While this is going on, there can be two cars looking to leave Tim's. One is turning left, the other right, and the drivers have to somehow see above gargantuan snow piles, and a long line of cars on each side of them. While this is going on, traffic continues to flow on Airport - people trying to get to work, and not to a coffee.

When it's busy, it's really busy and congested, and it's an accident waiting to happen.

The thing about this problem is that it's nobody's "fault." A lot of people drink coffee, and a lot of people have to be at the workplace at the same time. However, this is a situation that must be addressed. Never mind the confusion, and ignore the fact that it can be a guessing game of when to leave and when to break. The fact of the matter is that these lines are holding up traffic, and when drivers get a little hot under the collar as they wait in line on Airport, accidents can definitely happen.

So, when we do find ourselves stuck in one of these congested waits, it's extremely important that we relax, and if we have to, help other drivers out when possible. Let each other know if a particular turning lane is clear, or if there are cars coming. There's enough coffee to go around.

info@ganderbeacon.ca