A group of residents is seeking once again to slow down traffic on Colborne Street, a major road in the village.
Brian Monk asked council in committee of the whole on Monday to install three-way stop signs on Colborne Street at Keating Way and at the eastern entrance to Wilson Crescent.
Monk began his presentation by thanking council for its move to place a four-way stop at Gerrie Road and Colborne in 2010, but said speeding on Colborne is still an issue. The road has had a speed limit of 40km/h since the 1990s.
The old Elora council set that limit in the hope that people would then drive only at 50km/h.
Monk said in the past few weeks there were several accidents on the road at the Keating Way and Gerrie Road intersections, and a dog was hit at the Colborne and Patrick Boulevard intersection.
Monk said people along the street have to time their exits from driveways because of heavy and fast traffic. He said of the traffic lights the township placed on Colborne for students, they sometimes have to wait five minutes, and then run across the road.
Monk also noted there are no sidewalks from Gerrie Road westward to Graham Street.
He presented the committee with graphs indicating that at several places on Colborne, traffic travels at 80km/h and in some places, three per cent of vehicles reached 90km/h. Monk said he has a radar gun.
“They travel really fast in a residential zone,” he said of traffic.
He noted Colborne Street gets wider travelling west (towards Fergus) when it reaches Wilson Crescent East, and that causes drivers to speed up. There is also a school bus that stops on Colborne Street near Graham, and it picks up nearly 20 students.
Monk wondered if the township could erect a mobile radar sign that would show drivers how fast they are travelling. He said there is one on the South River Road between Elora and Fergus, and another one was recently installed near the Salem Public School.
Councillor Kelly Linton said he has had some complaints about speeding on Colborne.
He said he would be interested to see traffic counts for that road, but he has concerns about three-way stops.
“Some people aren’t that good at three-way stops,” he said. “There is a concern they are not used properly.”
Monk said traffic calming bumps might help. He said drivers do not like them, but they do slow traffic, and several municipalities use them.
He added all the people he talked with in the area “were pretty well disgusted with this road.”
Public works director Ken Elder said his department considered the 85th percentile of traffic and uses a set manual for all of its roads. The township adopted its standards for roads in 2005. He recommended a study on the problem.
Council also wanted to consult with police.
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said, “I also have concerns about three-way stops.”
She recommended the report and the request be sent to committee for further study, and councillors agreed.
Councillors Kirk McElwain and Fred Morris were absent.
