Re: Roundabout the cure to Granite speedsters, Oak Bay News, Your View, Nov. 30
I also live on Granite Street and was encouraged by Mr. Davis’ letter to your paper. I totally concur with his observations. Granite was not designed as a main thoroughfare but has become just that.
People use it to avoid Oak Bay Avenue, to cut down Victoria and large delivery trucks use it to get to the back side of Athlone Court and other village businesses for their deliveries. I am not really one to dictate where one can and cannot drive, but something to discourage the speeding would go a long way to make our street safer.
Trying to turn on to Granite Street from Mitchell Street or Victoria Avenue is a “roll the dice” proposition when speed is not regulated by individuals.
Getting in and out of your driveway if you live on Granite can also be challenging as visibility is limited by parking, much of which is by non-resident employees of businesses on the avenue. For the reasons noted by Mr. Davis and the ones I have added, I would suggest, not traffic calming or speed reduction measures, but car reduction measures.
Limiting turns off Foul Bay Road to right turns onto Granite from the north-bound direction of Foul Bay and to right turns off of Granite in the east-bound direction onto Foul Bay north-bound would reduce volume, keep most trucks off this residential street and discourage the use of Granite as a ‘cut through.’
Granite would still be accessible, just not as the main thoroughfare it has become. Picture a triangular median at the intersection of Granite and Foul Bay with the base facing west on to Foul Bay. This would also be less expensive to build and maintain than one or two roundabouts.
Curtis Hobson
Oak Bay
