Crossed Up: Crossing the Maritimes in the Toyota Corolla Cross
Say what? How emergency services deal with noise-like streets
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Names have a funny way of setting expectations. Any kid named LeBron who is enrolled in a basketball camp will have some expectation attached to their endeavors, even if they prefer to examine specimen samples under an Olympus microscope in science class.
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This phenomenon extends to our cars and the streets we drive them on, which is why it would be alarming to see someone named Freddy driving a ’58 Cadillac on Elm Street. Outside of cinematic horror, the Corolla badge is synonymous with sales popularity, consistently near the top of the charts in terms of volume. We’ll bet big bucks that all of our readers have owned a Corolla or know someone who does.
It’s only natural to think that this new-for-22 Corolla Cross will co-opt this good juju instead of trying to make its way into the hotly contested compact crossover segment, freed from being saddled with a confusing and immemorial name (like company companion C-HR). By associating the word Corolla with this new vehicle and offering it in a popular body style with the option of all-wheel drive, Toyota has already ensured the Corolla Cross some double hits.
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Savvy drivers will also notice that there is no shortage of duplicate street names. Around these parts, and probably where you live as well, there are several roads with labels that are substantially similar or downright identical. Area planners could have chosen the name for prestige reasons – copying a tony neighborhood from another city seems popular – or the region’s geography may have played a role in its naming convention. The number of roads named Water Street in Atlantic Canada is beyond belief, but understandable.
“There are restrictions,” explained an expert from the planning department of the Nova Scotia country in which your author resides. “Developers of a housing estate would be limited in the types of suffix names they could use – such as an avenue, a promenade or a crescent.” This could be due to traffic volumes, explaining why this new development is on Oak Street instead of Oak Boulevard. According to the regulations, the name chosen must be approved before the final green light is given to the development itself.
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Yet duplication occurs – particularly counties that claim an area of 4,000 square kilometers (or more). The images scattered throughout this article show just how many occurrences of Cross Road and Cross Street appear around these parts, not to mention the other roads whose names begin with a permutation of the word. How do emergency services manage such duplication? Are there any other tools available to them other than a vague direction to go to a certain street name and civic number? Whether it’s a medical event or a fire, every minute and every second cut from response time can make the difference between a minor incident and a catastrophic event.
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We spoke with that province’s emergency management office to get some perspective. “Duplicate street names can cause confusion,” said Jasmine Flemming, Communications Advisor for EMO. “But the 911 system is designed to use all the elements of an address to specify a location.” This can include civic address, street name, street type, community, and county. In other words, the distinction between communities is usually enough to steer responders in the right direction, even if there are similarities in street names.
But it can go further than that in the name of security – and often it does. It turns out that in many parts of the country, 911 mapping uses what are called Emergency Service Zones (ESNs). These have the authority to identify emergency agencies for a particular point of civic address. “Each street has its own range,” Flemming explained. “There is only a set number of civic addresses that can be valid on this street. Typically, the community often has enough information to differentiate between two streets with the same name. »
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Even with all these tech-based tools, there’s still a comforting human element to the equation. “This information is also communicated verbally,” Flemming told us. “911 callers are trained to ask specific questions to determine a specific location.” She reminded us that some municipalities have civic addressing regulations that “may include street naming patterns,” which echoes what our county-level expert explained earlier today. Additionally, I now have a desire to use the word “schema” more frequently in daily conversation.
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First Look: 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross
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First Drive: 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross
As for the vehicle whose name started all these burning questions, our tester was the entry-level L version, equipped with front-wheel drive. As the most basic Corolla Cross money can buy, it lacks features like tinted rear glass and a heated steering wheel, but essentials like air conditioning and heated front seats are present. The removal of its rear wiper is a rude awakening on this L version; given the rake and size of that rear window, it picked up road grime quickly on our December ride. That wiper alone is reason enough to spend an extra $2,200 to upgrade to the LE, which is sure to be this car’s volume trim.
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Other spearheads on our team have already pointed out that the four-cylinder works under the hood, so I won’t dwell on their points except to mention that the CV drivetrain is decidedly tuned for economy rather than pleasure. Passenger space is ample in the front row, even for this 6’6” driver, though someone of my stature will find the rear seat cramped in terms of legroom. Non-freakazoid humans will be fine. Some interior details indicate a cost target when developing the Corolla Cross, such as false molded seams and lots of hard plastics. There’s a nice soft-touch veneer on the mid-dash area though, so it’s not a penalty box.
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A notable flaw is in the cargo area, where a pronounced five-inch rise is created on the cargo floor when the rear seats are folded down to open up more space. This scupper makes it easier to load bass drums, putting some items on an incline. Being careful when loading your Costco run (watch out for the eggs!) will save you heartache and rude epithets.
Names matter and often determine certain levels of success – a lesson the C-HR will soon learn when this new Corolla Cross outperforms it many times over, as it surely will in its first full year on the market. Names also make a difference in our community and, as we were happy to learn, those who wield the levers of power have tools in place to mitigate the issues.
So go ahead, young LeBron. Chase those science dreams.