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For the second time in the past few weeks, a citizen has addressed North Bay City Council about safety concerns and speeding drivers in their respective neighbourhoods.
During the City of North Bay's town hall meeting held Sept. 13, Maggie Daniel presented regarding the rate of speed of vehicles and dangers to students of nearby schools in the Jane Street and Harvey Street area.
Then, during the last regular meeting of council, Ernest Reise raised similar points about a one-kilometre stretch of road on McKeown Avenue, south of Ski Club Road between the intersections at O'Brien Street and Chapais Street. Reise is in favour of adding a three-way stop to slow traffic down.
Reise notes there are no stops nor signs of any kind to combat the speeding he and his neighbours witness daily on McKeown Avenue, a completely residential area with a few connecting streets.
"This makes for a speed zone," Reise advised. "After lodging a complaint several years ago, the City put up a large speed indicator at the corner of McKeown and Frost Street. After many months, it was removed."
After conferring with the City's traffic department, Reise learned the average speed on McKeown Avenue during that period registered at 60 kilometres per hour and the fastest detected was 90 km/h. The speed limit on that section of McKeown is 50 km/h.
By his own unofficial traffic survey, Reise has counted hundreds of vehicles passing on McKeown during peak times and estimates 80 per cent of them are driving above the limit. He has observed, besides the peak times, the evenings are bad for speeders, too.
Reise asked the City, "Does this not indicate that something should be done? Like a three-way stop? I was told it was not feasible, it would cause traffic problems but it would be looked into."
Reise later said, "Our city is a speed zone. No matter where you go, people speed and we don't have enough police. I think we should have more." He later added he planned to address the matter with the police board. Reise told Council he did have some interactions on the matter with Sgt. Richard Hampel of the North Bay Police Service and Adam Lacombe, a senior engineer with the municipality.
Even with the closure of Widdifield Secondary, Reise observes at peak times, cars still race down McKeown to Chapais to avoid the backed-up traffic at O'Brien and Ski Club Road.
"Traffic turning right onto Frost and Harrison from McKeown hardly slows down. It's very difficult if you're walking. You have to be very careful not to get hit as there are no sidewalks. Twice this has happened to me and my granddaughter," added Reise, who also fears for the safety of schoolchildren walking in the area.
He said there are 20-plus children living along this stretch and "none of these children are allowed to play in the front yard without supervision. This is ridiculous."
Reise told Council he spoke to residents living in the Wickstead Avenue and Sage Road area that have reduced speeds of 40 km/h. Those residents say drivers do not reduce their speeds despite the signage. A man who lives on Ski Club Road where a speed radar sign is set up told Reise, in his experience, the sign makes drivers speed up.
"Putting up speed signs or reducing the speed limit is not the answer," Reise declared, "as we do not have a large enough police force to enforce it as they are currently overburdened dealing with drug and mental health issues that are escalating in our city."
Reise noted a police cruiser recently spent 10 minutes monitoring the situation in his neighbourhood before being called away.
"I suggest putting stop signs or three-way stops on McKeown Avenue," he said. "If we put speed bumps, they'd be flying over them, creating accidents. That's not even something to think about."
A petition Reise circulated garnered 48 signatures. "I hope you can help us out," he said to Council members in concluding his presentation.
Taking a question from Coun. Chris Mayne, Reise shared engineer Lacombe's evaluation was adding a stop sign could "cause more accidents."
In clarifying, Mayne suggested Lacombe's take was "the three-way stop isn't always the ideal solution."
Reise responded bluntly, "If you don't do anything one of these days someone is going to be killed. And, if it's a child, it's going to cause multiple problems."
Mayne offered to keep in touch with Reise, noting there will be budget discussions to enhance the City's road safety plan with a bump up from the current $25,000 line item.
"We'll see if there is something we can do, in the shorter term and the longer term, to address, really, what is a compliance issue," said Mayne. "It's not just McKeown, it's a challenge on a number of streets. There are other areas where we hear from people and neighbourhood groups on a regular basis that we are trying to address."
"It's getting very serious," responded Reise.
Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch noted the town hall presentation on safety at Jane and Harvey had raised discussions about automated speed cameras.
"It's like what we have on Ski Club Road but there is a camera that can take a picture and issue a ticket or warning letters," she offered, wondering if Reise would be interested in such a measure, to which he replied he would.
Coun. Bill Vrebosch advised Reise he is a "fan of three-way stops and four-way stops. It does slow people down. We'll look into your concerns very closely."
Mayor Al McDonald reaffirmed Councillors Mayne and Bill Vrebosch would follow up with Reise and thanked him for his presentation.
"It's definitely on our radar," added McDonald.
