You Gotta Love Those Canadians! Smart Moves Worth Copying

American politicians can debate all the day long about whether Canada's nationalized health care is better than the American privatized system, but when it comes to common sense and transportation, Canada is ahead of the pack. 

I was riding on the Toronto subway system the other night when I noticed a plaque informing riders that all night after dark, women may ask a bus driver to let them off almost anywhere between posted stops.

How sensible and reassuring.

Then there's the "risk maps" the Canadian federal government wants to make available to drivers.  The digital, color-coded maps will reveal the streets that are home to the highest number of crashes.  Nearly every road and street and highway in Canada would be graded according to the number of fender benders as well as fatal crashes that occurred on them. 

That's not only helpful for drivers, but it would also pinpoint for local officials the roads that need some construction work or better signage to make them safer. 

Actually, the Europeans and Australians thought of this first.  The European Road Assessment Program is called EurRAP, and a copycat program funded by some state and federal money in conjunction with the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is underway in the US, called usRAP.  Let's see who can be the first country in North America to get that color-coded information on the nation's in-car GPS systems.