Mapleton council will consider adding a crossing guard at a second location here after hearing of safety concerns from local residents.
Charlene Snyder and Laura Craven presented a petition with 24 signatures requesting a crossing guard for the corner of King Street North and Wellington Road 17 (Peel Street North) to council at the June 23 meeting.
“As the population is kind of growing up in the Nesbitt subdivision area, there’s more children” travelling to Alma Public School from that part of town, explained Craven.
“You can’t put a price on a child’s life and we’re asking you to fund a second crossing guard in Alma.”
The petition notes children naturally use King Street to walk to and from school. By crossing on Wellington Road 17 they may access the sidewalk and use the catwalk that runs between 17 and Muir Crescent.
“County Road 17 is very busy with not only vehicle traffic, but tractor trailers and farm vehicles,” the petition states, adding there are no “children crossing” signs at the location.
“King Street North is very close to the traffic lights at County Road 17 and 7, children may have a difficult time discerning if it is safe to cross the road when vehicles are turning, or when the lights are to change. Some have witnessed vehicles speeding up at a yellow light, or even running a red light, or cutting through Buehler’s Automotive to miss the lights,” the petition states.
The petitioners also point out there is no sidewalk on the west side of Wellington Road 17 between Buehler’s Automotive and the end of King Street, “therefore it’s unsafe for children to cross at the traffic light and walk north.”
Noting council members are familiar with the area in question, Mayor Neil Driscoll suggested, “if we could have something ready before September – I think I see where council is in support of that.”
“There is an opportunity to investigate the traffic and bring back a report,” said CAO Patty Sinnamon, who suggested council give public works director Brad McRoberts site inspection authority and authorize him to undertake a school crossing warrant study.
Councillor Michael Martin was in favour of hiring of a crossing guard without further study.
“I think there’s enough traffic there to warrant it,” he said.
McRoberts replied, “In terms of crossing guards warrants, there are guidelines to determine if a crossing guard is warranted.”
Sinnamon explained part of the warrant study process is determining if there are sufficient gaps in traffic to allow children to cross safely during the “critical hours” when they are travelling to and from school.
Councillor Dennis Craven asked if there would be an issue adding a crossing guard in terms of budgeting.
“It hasn’t been included in the budget for this year,” said Sinnamon, who noted the township has budgeted just over $10,000 to fund existing crossing guards; one in Alma and one in Drayton.
Councillor Lori Woodham noted there are no signs warning of children crossing along Wellington Road 17 and suggested McRoberts contact the county about putting up appropriate signage. McRoberts agreed to look into it.
Council authorized McRoberts to undertake a study to determine if a crossing guard is warranted at the Alma location.
