The police board of Estevan brainstormed on some possible solutions to the hazards of pedestrian crossings on Fourth Street, after a vehicle pedestrian collision left one victim dead, and another in hospital on Oct. 6. An avenue of possibility that came about at the Oct.16 meeting was reducing the speed limit on Fourth Street.
Barry O’Handley, representing the Estevan Business Improvement District (BID), noted that there has been a great deal of concern expressed about the mid-block crosswalks on Fourth Street, and suggested that lowering the speed limit to 30 km/h is a practical option.
O’Handley surveyed other members of BID, asking: “If an accident hadn’t taken place on Fourth Street, would you see any problem with mid-block crossings?” The unanimous answer of all members was that they would not have a problem with the crossings, had there not been an accident.
“They said the crosswalks did the job they were supposed to. Having said that, I don’t know how you control drivers or pedestrians,” said O’Handley. “We feel there’s a sense of false safety at the crosswalk, and people aren’t paying attention.”
O’Handley noted that visibly of the crosswalks isn’t the problem, because they have entry points that extend into the road, marked with bold lines and lights, making sure “nobody is just walking out from behind a parked vehicle into the street.”
O’Handley said the root of the problem was somewhere in between drivers not paying enough attention, and pedestrians not being fully aware of their surroundings, expecting the crosswalk to be safer than it actually is, when drivers aren’t paying attention.
Estevan Police Chief Paul Ladouceur noted that whenever there’s an accident the question of where the problem lies gets reopened.
“At the end of the day, I have to agree. The crosswalk is there, it’s clearly marked, and this is a case when we have these accidents, we often want to fault other things than driver error,” said Ladouceur. “We call them collisions, because collisions are avoidable. Accidents are unavoidable.”
Ladouceur stressed the importance of not having a knee-jerk reaction to the problem, and coming up with a well-thought-out solution to the problem, involving plenty of discussion and dialogue between all the parties involved in the matter.
“We don’t believe, from our perspective, that there’s any issue with the crosswalk. It’s no different from any other accident that happens,” said O’Handley. “We want to review the situation, and look at slowing those three blocks down to 30 km/h, like a school zone or a park area. We want to open up some dialogue on how everyone feels about it.”
Mayor Roy Ludwig expressed approval at the idea of starting a conversation on a lower speed limit, saying that reducing speeds on Fourth Street sounded like a good idea.
“We all realize the fact that they came into being was the fact that everyone was jaywalking. The whole idea was to funnel that into the crossings, so they don’t have to walk a block to be safe,” said Ludwig. “The lights there are absolutely functional, and up to snuff as far as standards are concerned. Some people thought the lights might have not been working, but we have it on video, proving that they were.”
“You can’t blame that crosswalk,” said O’Handley, agreeing with Ludwig. “It’s the safest one I’ve probably seen anywhere.”
Coun. Kevin Smith noted that the traffic committee was reinstated for the specific purpose of alleviating problems like the quandary of the Fourth Street mid-block crossings.
“It’s a matter of trying to change behaviour behind the wheels. We’re going to have to look at the saturation downtown. But even yesterday going home, I saw a lady and child just run across King Street,” said Smith. “They turned out fine because everyone was cautious enough and conscious of what happened in the last little while. There was no disaster, but why in the world would people run across main arteries? We’re not going to ignore that.”
Smith noted an important necessity is being proactive, working with behaviour issues relating to pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
“Lowering the speed limit may not be the answer to everything, but in this particular case, it might help reaction time for the crosswalk,” said Ludwig. “It would make a lot of sense.”
Before going into camera, the board resolved to work collaboratively with the suggestion, coming up with a plan that consulted the needs of citizens, council, board members, traffic control committee members, and local business owners on Fourth Street.
