Late on Dec. 18, I read a police report that made me stop in my tracks.
I read that a 13-year-old driver of a horse-drawn carriage had lost their life, and an eight-year-old passenger was transported to a trauma centre, after a collision with a passenger vehicle at the corner of Perth Line 71 and Perth Road 140, southeast of Donegal.
The collision occurred at 4 p.m. earlier that day.
The report made me question what was I doing at 4 p.m. The answer: I was driving my kids home from school.
My deepest sympathies go out to the families of the victims, but also to the driver of the passenger vehicle. Although their feelings will differ greatly, all will not be easy to process.
I couldn’t help but think back to North Perth council discussing the placement of a new parochial school on Line 87.
During the discussion on Dec. 4, several councillors recognized that the road was not safe to walk on but then also stated they favoured the placement and ultimately voted to approve the request.
The comments ranged from stating, “There are no shoulders on that road anywhere” to “When meeting traffic with a tractor it is terrible, without kids walking on it.”
One councillor called it the worst road for agricultural traffic, adding there is no room for two vehicles to pass with pedestrians on the road.
The one comment that summed up my feelings as a parent: “Wide shoulders on a busy road doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.”
Council ultimately approved the new location for this school on the basis that road improvements, signage, and shared transportation be encouraged.
Please understand that these statements were made before the collision I mentioned previously. I don’t mean to make this council look insensitive to this incident, however, I believe they lacked foresight during this discussion, as well as in other conversations.
Wallace Ward Coun. Lee Anne Andriessen was the lone council member oppsoed to the parochial school location. A stance that she stuck to the following week when it was proposed to divert transport truck traffic past the parochial school, which was literally approved the week before.
On Dec. 11, Andriessen questioned her colleagues on council when it came time to discuss a proposed truck bypass route which, if approved, could see as many as 600 trucks per day directed to drive past the new parochial school.
A study in the Transportation Master Plan shared that over a 12-hour period, 1,540 trucks entered and exited Listowel on Perth Line 86. The survey also found that approximately 43 per cent of trucks passed through town, and would therefore be interested in using a truck bypass route.
Andriessen called it ironic that this topic was once again in front of council, however, I would question why this issue was not anticipated by council on Dec. 4.
It was stated in the report that the Line 87 truck bypass route was only to be implemented after an additional traffic study was completed after other truck bypass routes were constructed, to understand if additional alleviation of traffic was necessary.
As someone who read the 400-page master plan – twice – I would like to point out an issue.
It appears pedestrian traffic was not surveyed in the truck bypass study. I admit it was a lot of information to digest, however, I can confidently state that there was a different study that looked at the pedestrian network within the town boundaries of Listowel, but I don’t believe pedestrian traffic was a topic within the study specifically for the truck routes.
This leaves me to assume it might not be a factor in any future study.
I hope I am wrong with that statement.
I recognize that I have been quite critical of council, so now I would like to take a moment to commend them on the great work they have done for children’s safety last year – that being their support of the school bus stop arm camera pilot project.
Newry Coach Lines owner John Chapman told council it is estimated that each bus sees two blow-bys per day, or roughly 388 blow-bys for each bus over the 194 days of school.
This would give an annual estimate of 12,804 blow-bys in a school year.
He suggested council support a school bus stop arm camera pilot project, that would cost an estimated $33,000.
On Nov. 29, when council agreed to fund 50 per cent of the pilot project and encourage the province to increase their support to school buses, it was stated that this pilot project could save lives.
I support their strong stance on child safety here, however, I wished it was also applied during the subsequent discussions about the parochial school and truck bypass.
I know at first glance these three topics are not generally thought to be related, however, I can’t help but draw a correlation between the recent discussions that have occurred in the North Perth council chambers, especially as a parent of two young children.
I urge council to continue to fight for children’s safety, regardless of if they ride the bus or walk to school.
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Kelsey Bent is a Local journalism Initiative Reporter with Midwestern Newspapers. Comments or feedback can be sent to kbent@midwesternnewspapers.com.
