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Crazy ‘N’ drivers in luxury cars have pushed this Burnaby mom too far

Stephanie Klatt took her family out recently for a walk. She expected it to be peaceful. She was wrong. Klatt stopped at a crosswalk on University Crescent on Burnaby Mountain, looked both ways when she spotted a fast-moving luxury car approaching.
road cone
This road cone has been added to a crosswalk on University Crescent on Burnaby Mountain. The crosswalk is often ignored or unseen by speeding drivers as they come down the slope. CHRIS CAMPBELL PHOTO

Stephanie Klatt took her family out recently for a walk. She expected it to be peaceful.

She was wrong.

Klatt stopped at a crosswalk on University Crescent on Burnaby Mountain, looked both ways when she spotted a fast-moving luxury car approaching. She raised her hand to motion the car to stop because, well, that’s what drivers are supposed to do.

“He just waved back at me,” said Klatt, an incredulous look on her face.

Klatt told this story on Wednesday night during a town hall of the UniverCity Community Association. She was trying to rally support for a petition to have speed humps installed in the area.

The anecdote got a few laughs, but it received even more knowing looks. I live in the UniverCity development and it was the luxury car detail that got me riled up. For a community that includes such a large number of SFU students, it sure has a high percentage of luxury cars in the parking lots.

Whether it’s the student parking area or the garages of our buildings, UniverCity is loaded with high-end cars because so many of the students are loaded with their parents’ money. I’ve never seen so many Maseratis in one place before. (When I went to post-secondary school, I drove a 1973 Ford Pinto Roustabout and my classmates all drove beaters.)

Look, before you think this column is just sour grapes because I grew up poor, let me dispel that notion. I don’t care if these kids drive high-end cars. More power to them.

This problem is so many of these luxury cars have ‘N’ stickers on the back of them and their lack of driving skill and experience really shows. They blow through stop signs like they actually don’t know what the red sign means. They speed well over the posted speed limit, often because they can’t handle the power of these high-end cars. One resident at the meeting called them “crazy drag racers.”

I also see a lot of them on their phones as they race by.

UniverCity has a lot of kids living there and Klatt is trying to protect them with a proposal to add seven speed humps between 9100-9300 University Ct., which is especially tricky because the road is curved and at least one of the crosswalks is hidden by foliage. The petition has been mailed to homeowners. The cost is approximately $18,000, spread between all of the owners in tiny amounts.

The petition is due back on June 10. I hope the initiative passes, not for myself, but to protect all of the kids and seniors in the area.

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.