A plan to help slow down traffic in Kirkland Lake is in motion.
During the town’s council meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 7), members gave the green light to a report on how much it would be to buy traffic calming cut-out signage. The ask is to have that information ahead of the 2024 budget talks.
The motion, brought forward by Coun. Rick Owen and Mayor Stacy Wight, noted that being a mining town, the road network has unique intersections and blind spots.
While the town has been vigilant in addressing past road safety concerns by installing radar signage and implementing other traffic calming measures, both Owen and Wight believe additional education and signage may help improve road safety.
Owen said when attending the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in the summer, he was walking around a trade show when he noticed a traffic-calming design he’d never seen before.
“I'd like to say I literally stopped in my tracks when I saw it. If I didn't, I certainly came very close to stopping. And what it was was a little girl, probably about four feet or four-and-a-half feet high, holding up a sign with a traffic-calming message on it. And I wasn't even looking for traffic calming information when I was walking around the conference at that point,” he said.
Drivers are often blinded by signs, Owen said.
“Signs are basically rectangular and triangular and we we tend to see them, but they don't really register. Whereas this is an actual cutout. They have a male cut out and they have a female cut out. It grabs your attention because you're not expecting it. So, I think it would be effective. I like it far more than things like speed bumps, we already have enough speed bumps in town. I don't think we need that anymore,” he said.
There are multiple roads and intersections across town that are problematic, Owen said.
“Just on Allen Avenue alone, there are three blind spots; one at Third Street, one at Second Street, and one at Town and Government road. Then we have the intersection by the store where we've got five streets converging into one place and we have the situation at St. Jerome where we just put in a four-way stop in our attempts to make the community safer. So, I believe this is definitely worth looking into,” he said.
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Owen said the signs are portable.
“We'd be able to move them from location to location and if memory serves me right, they were priced at about $500 a sign, which is a very reasonable cost. And I'm really hoping that the report will come back recommending we buy two so we can try them,” he said.
The importance of children's safety was emphasized by Owen.
“Children are excitable and you can teach them all you want and they're gonna run across the road. I know I did when I was five years old and got hit by a car. I don't want that happening to any other kids,” he said.
As a councillor, Owen said it’s his responsibility to make the community as safe as possible.
“This is a new concept in traffic calming. It's not one that's being used. It's just being developed. I'm not sure how you would measure the effectiveness of this traffic-calming device. With the radar sites, we can measure because we get the stats. With this type of traffic calming device, I have no idea how you would measure it,” he said.
“But I definitely think it's important that we look into it. If the department comes back and says, you know, it wouldn't work for these reasons, then that's fine. But I think we owe it to our ratepayers to at least investigate.”
Wight said they’ve made great strides in trying to use traffic-calming measures effectively, yet the town continues to receive complaints, especially regarding community safety zones.
“Whether they're written on social media or written directly to council members and to staff. I think these signs in particular are a good way to mitigate these issues,” she said.
“Like Coun. Owen said, we get used to the signs, we get used to the square signs, the ones that we’re talking about is a child, it will shock you into taking notice, at least for the first little bit, and I think it's well worth investigating.”
