A letter about speeding on Parkside Drive in Mount Forest has prompted Wellington North staff to conduct a traffic study.
Residents Natalie and Jaymes Overholt wrote a letter to council outlining their safety concerns about the road being used as a bypass for Highway 6 traffic turning right onto Highway 89.
“Parkside Drive is a highly-populated children’s area, with St. Marys School, the park and the pool,” states the letter.
“The amount of cars we see speeding down Parkside Drive, especially at rush hour is unreal.”
The Overholts suggest the road should be a no-truck route to reduce the truck traffic.
“If a child was to run on the street, a transport could never shift gears to stop in time,” they state.
“Something drastically needs to be done on Parkside Drive to help with speeding and tranSports. Its been pure luck a child hasn’t been killed here. Please help us make our town in this busier area a safer place.”
The Overholts did not attend the council meeting, but councillor Dan Yake suggested council discuss their concerns.
“It’s been an issue for many, many years, with the pool and the park there, so I can certainly understand her concern and her frustration,” said Yake.
“We just really, over the years, haven’t maybe dealt with it properly or too adequately, so maybe it’s time that we could review what we’ve done in the past and what we can do in the future.”
Interim public works director Derek McCaughan said the township is already conducting a traffic count at Main and King streets and can do another one at Parkside and Queen streets.
“Because at the moment we have no information to assess how bad this situation actually is,” he said.
Councillor Sherry Burke suggested the town involve the Wellington North Safe Communities committee to install a speed sign.
“I did talk to Gary Williamson before this letter came in, and he mentioned that they had just donated two (defibrillators) and they run on charitable funds … he didn’t think that they would be in a financial position right now to be able to do that,” said clerk Karren Wallace.
Councillor Steve McCabe asked if the township can involve the OPP for surveillance on Parkside Drive.
“We can certainly make them aware about the concern that’s been raised and they are typically quite receptive to that information,” said CAO Mike Givens.
“The idea of it being used as a bypass, it is a challenge for sure … obviously speeding is an enforcement issue.”
McCaughan added the OPP has a Speed Spy device that can be used to collect data. The township also has access to a mobile speed sign unit to place on the road.
Council directed staff to bring a report on the traffic and speed on Parkside Drive to a future meeting of council.
