The issue of speeding, parking and logging trucks on city streets, namely Thompson Avenue, were all brought up in Council Monday night, as a letter on the issue, sent in by Gerald Savard came forth.
Savard spoke once again during public input, on the need to do a study on the dangers of the road.
“We need to find out how much traffic and what kind of speeds they are going right off the bat,” Savard said.
He suggested forming a committee, composed of a few councillors and a couple Thompson residents.
Mayor Greg Granstrom noted that the RCMP had conducted a speedboard study on Thompson and were in the process of tabulating results. Granstrom said it would make sense to wait to get the information before doing anything.
“Perhaps what we should do is ask for a staff report for next meeting,” Granstrom said. “Certainly the statistics that we get from that speedboard would show what in fact is happening… we hear all kinds of things, like who’s going to be killed next… but without data, it’s pretty hard to do it.”
The mayor said the city should first build a case, since the RCMP would feel more compelled to come if there is a statistical reason.
Laura Pettitt also lives on Thompson, and said that along with speed, they should look at how people in the area are parking on Thompson.
“I’m well aware they need to park there, but it seems extremely sloppy,” Pettitt said. “Maybe there are certain areas that could be plowed a little wider just to make it a little bit safer.”
She also noted that while it is a main thoroughfare, especially in the summer, she’s never seen so many logging trucks come down that road, which causes the road to deteriorate as well.
Coun. Tim Thatcher confirmed that logging trucks could be seen from his house and that they start moving down the road as early as 4 a.m.
He said they are very noisy.
Coun. Jill Spearn commented that the traffic on Thompson has been an ongoing issue, just as dogs in downtown has been .
“I’ve even brought it up because I live below Thompson Avenue myself, not to say that I drive 40 km/h on Thompson, because that’s totally unrealistic, but 50 is certainly realistic,” Spearn said.
“Where people park it’s helter skelter, it’s chaotic. We put in the speed bumps and that seemed to curtail traffic for a while. I know there are operational issues in the winter, but certainly in the summer months it was conducive to reducing traffic speeding.”
She said that lead to complaints about the drivers slowing down, then hitting the gas after the bump.
But she said the speedbump helped to slow traffic down. The road is an issue because it is a bottleneck and the winding road, she said.
“It’s the way the city was built, so I don’t know if there are any easy answers.”
Coun. Cary Fisher said he supports a committee formation.
He said that his wife once got passed by a truck going 100 km on the road.
“Obviously there is an issue down there that has to get addressed,” he said.
Fisher said that the city has copies of a report from years ago when Redstone was put together, which was made up of sitting on the street and counting cars for several days.
“The issue is naughty drivers, it’s not the number of vehicles, it isn’t that busy, relatively speaking,” Fisher said.
“There are some poor drivers down there that are making some bad decisions and do endanger lives.
“I don’t think we need to spend a lot of money, but I do think something has to be done in terms of better bumps, enforcement, just a whole host of other things… a bit of an education program.”
Savard first brought forward the letter at the Nov. 12 council meeting. Click here for the story.
