Centre Wellington council has again placed a four-way stop on a road designed to move traffic efficiently – at the request of citizens living on that road.
Council approved the move in its committee of the whole and passed a bylaw last month to place a four-way stop at Colborne Street and Gerrie Road (also known as the Dump Road).
Public Works Director Ken Elder said Colborne currently has a 40km/hour speed limit, and it actually should be 50. He said 40km/hour limits are usually for school zones, and Colborne Street technically does not qualify. The old Elora council made that change in the hope of getting drivers to slow down to 50km/hour.
Elder said the township has asked the OPP for aggressive enforcement to slow traffic.
He said studies indicate the road gets about 2,500 vehicles per day, and in one seven day period it showed over 17,000 vehicles using it. Elder said between Patrick Street to Keating Drive, 41.25% of drivers exceeded the limit at 50km/hour and another 5.6% exceeded the speed limit at 60km/hour.
“Regardless of the speed limit, people tend to drive at speeds they feel safe,” he said. Elder added that there is major construction planned for the area, and by 2012, there will be traffic lights at Colborne and Gerrie.
He said the request for a four-way stop was triggered when Brian Monk, who lives near Colborne, was involved in an accident on Feb. 14 at around noon hour at Colborne and Gerrie. He and his wife, Mary, along with Julie Fawcett, who also lives on the street, requested a four-way stop there.
Elder noted that heading east past Gerrie Road, the speed limit is 50km/hour, mainly because a series of S-bends farther east causes about five accidents per year. He said he is unaware of any further crashes at the Gerrie and Colborne intersection.
OPP Sergeant Pat Horrigan told council the police have issued a number of tickets for speeding.
Elder said in one 11.5 hour period, police handed out 16 tickets.
Councillor Fred Morris asked how a four-way stop will affect speeding.
Elder said as people head east, they will probably pick up speed. He again said Colborne’s limit should be 50, but people get upset if council increases a speed limit.
Councillor Bob Foster said with the number of children in the area, it is a literally a school zone.
Elder said the township installed a pedestrian activated traffic light on Colborne so children can cross safely.
Foster argued the area is “a funnel” for kids going to Elora Public School two blocks to the south and for those going to St. Mary Catholic School to the north.
Resident Julie Fawcett said the traffic on the street has increased steadily and when she is out walking, she hits the button of the traffic light even though she continues along the sidewalk and does not cross the road.
Fawcett said she has owned two different houses in the area since 1987, but left the area for ten years. She said she hardly recognized Colborne Street with its heavy traffic when she returned.
“Sit on the corner between Irvine [Street] and Gerrie [Road] and see the ridiculous speeds,” she said, predicting if traffic is not slowed down, “somebody will be injured or killed. Please do something to change this neighbourhood. It’s not the Elora it used to be.”
Brian Monk said he would also like to see a three-way stop somewhere on the Colborne Street. “I feel a four-way won’t slow traffic down to what we want to see,” he said. “There’s a problem there.”
Monk said the day he and his wife, Mary, got hit, the issue was “sight lines.” He said if cars edge out too far “You don’t stand a chance.”
He added that people are using Patrick Boulevard as a short cut and speeding there, too.
Elder told council the sight lines at that corner are rated for 73km/hour. The speed limit at that corner is 40km/hour.
Monk also said there are problems for elderly people getting onto Colborne Street from their driveways.
Councillor Fred Morris said it seems the group wants a four-way stop to make the intersection safer, but he sees no likelihood it will deter speeders. He asked if speed monitoring equipment that shows drivers their speed will help.
Elder said it is possible, but putting too many of those in place will lead people to ignore them.
“We can look at it,” he said.
Morris said it is a long way from Irvine Street to Gerrie on Colborne, and drivers can pick up speed.
Councillor Kirk McElwain noted the percentages of speeders are close to one in five speeding.
Elder said finding 20 per cent at 10km/hour over the limit is “fairly low.” He said 30% at 10km/hour over is an “average of any street in the township.”
McElwain asked if a community speed zone (where fines are doubled) would help.
Horrigan said he does not believe it is a driver’s intent to speed. It is “a misjudgment.”
He said education and enforcement and proper signs might be more helpful.
Fawcett had complained about traffic noise. McElwain said more stop signs will mean more noise as drivers start and stop.
Councillor Shawn Watters noted the Sorbarra development for the lands east of Elora will mean 1,000 to 1,200 new houses, and the speeding on Colborne “is not a short term issue.”
He said it means the street will be built to an urban standard, too. He said the majority of the speeders likely live in Elora or the west end of Fergus and use the Colborne route as a fast way back and forth.
“It’s not out of towners,” Watters said. “It’s your neighbours.”
Foster asked Horrigan if he thought the four-way stop would have an impact on speed.
Horrigan said he thought it would – in this case. He called it, “My best guess would be to put a stop sign in there.”
Council then voted unanimously to do that.
During question period, council was asked what is the point of designing collector routes if they are going to cause neighbours to ask for ways to slow down traffic. Roads such as Colborne Street in Elora and Milburn Street in Fergus are designed to move traffic, and council has added stops to both of them over the past few years because of residents’ complaints.
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said council has learned a lot about collector roads, and that it should not allow so many driveways on them.
“It does become a hazard, the way it is designed,” she said.
Elder agreed, and said collector routes should not have any driveways on them, but have driveways on the opposite side of those houses.
He said Milburn in Fergus is “a prime example. They come back to bother us.”
He added, “Four-way stops are not a calming device.”
Elder said the problem is to get a definition of a collector road and stick to it.
He added the difficulty is, “Citizens have a right to feel safe, and collector roads are to move traffic.”
