High traffic intersection worries local residents

Residents of Walkerville are concerned a recent death of a motorcyclist is not enough and wonder what the plans are to tackle the many citywide traffic issues.

 

Joe Baker has resided near the corner of Richmond Road and Chilver Road since 1984. He has watched the traffic in his area with growing concern over many years. His concerns are based around the amount of near misses he has recently witnessed. He said students travelling on foot and bicycle are frequently put in danger, and feels the city is not doing enough to fix the failed intersection.

“It would be a real tragedy to have someone injured seriously or worse that didn’t have to happen if there was better management of traffic control at this corner,” said Baker.

Ward 5 councillor Ed Sleiman admits traffic in the city can be hectic at times and issues are not just happening in Walkerville. He says the city is taking time to revise their traffic calming measures which have not been looked at in almost ten years.
These measures are used to determine the course of action to be taken once the city receives complaints. The policy ultimately can lead to different measures being implemented in problem areas. After a lengthy process with steps including gathering raw data and attempts at police enforcement, changes can be made to problem areas. Sixty-Six per cent of residents in any area need to agree to any changes in their neighbourhood. Changes could include traffic circles, narrowing of roadways or just a stop sign.
“The devices we are installing, whether it’s vertical deflection, horizontal, whatever the case, it will take care of the speeding,” said Sleiman. “If we have the proper calming measures, I don’t think we need police or the road to be inspected.”

Before the costs are incurred of narrowing streets or adding stop signs, the city takes raw data gathered by the traffic engineering department to the Windsor Police Service. Constable Andrew Drouillard explains once the data is organized they have many options available to them.

“Those areas will be targeted by our traffic officers, our traffic officers will go out to those locations, determine whether or not there is an issue,” said Drouillard. “(with) people running stop signs, people driving very fast in a specific area, that’s how they target certain areas.”

The police notice many of the problems happen around rush hour when people are moving in and out of the city. According to Baker Richmond Road is one of those roads. Baker says the road picks up during rush hour and around when the local schools admit and then dismiss their students. He worries for the students who frequently dodge in and out of the traffic in what he describes as a failed intersection.

The new policy is to go back up in front of council in the coming months. If passed it will give the various departments more options into dealing with issues of traffic control within the city.