A matter of safety at the Camas parade.

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I've driven/walked the Camas parade many times over the past 2 decades. It's a great parade with great people.

It would be better, of course, if everyone followed the rules limiting the number of participants to 15 (Hedrick) but that said, the paper noted occasional "long gaps." The Rivers' campaign was one of them.

When driving a vehicle in a parade, particularly where candy is tossed out, one of the biggest concerns is that children, particularly of the tiny variety, will jump out into the street directly in front of your vehicle for candy. This is particularly difficult when driving a dually Ford F350 (one that seems to drive certain GOPer's and Russell whackos insane, I might add.) and during the later part of the route which goes through the downtown area of Camas, children from toddler age on up were literally within inches of my vehicle. The result?

I had to drive at a crawl, far slower then a walking pace. Thus, the "gaps."

Safety is always first. And as a result, re-routing the parade must be considered by those in charge.

It's only a matter of time until some inattentive parent is looking the wrong way, and one of these precious little types gets severely injured.... or worse... because of the unbelievably close proximity to the vehicles in this parade. Tighter, more stringent steps must be taken to protect the people by forcing them to move much farther back from the parade itself.

Otherwise, someone is GOING to get hurt or killed. It's just a matter of when and how.
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