[MarchHare]

I'm not sure if this is the same group, but I heard a crazy woman whining about the new LRT line on the CBC Radio morning show last week. She -- no joke -- broke out the "WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!1" line. She wanted the City to build the line extension underground in her neighbourhood, at an estimated cost of $80 million more than the original budget for an above-ground track. When the host asked her to justify that cost to Calgary taxpayers, she said, "Can you really put a price on the safety of our children?" I wanted to magically reach through the radiowaves and stab her in the eye with a fork.

Is there any evidence that a below-ground track would be safer? How many children have even been killed since the C-Train opened because they didn't have parental supervision and didn't know how to safely cross a track? I think I was all of, oh, three years old when I learned to look both ways to make sure nothing was coming before crossing. Certainly by the time I was old enough to leave the home unsupervised my parents had taught me how to cross safely.