French Creek director Joe Stanhope is demanding change after a fatal hit-and-run along Roberton Boulevard earlier this month that he called “preventable.”
The incident claimed the life of an 80-year-old woman and reignited the call for safer streets from neighbours living in the Morningstar area.
Stanhope brought forward a motion to the Regional District of Nanaimo meeting Tuesday night that “the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) be requested to recognize the unique urban nature of Roberton Boulevard within electoral area G and take immediate action to install traffic calming measures to reduce the speed limit and install improved facilities for cyclists and pedestrians within the Roberton Boulevard road allowance and within French Creek as a whole, and further that staff meet with MOTI to discuss all possible solutions to address the issues in this area.”
Stanhope asked for the board’s support in light of the “tragic” accident.
“The road (Roberton Boulevard) is narrow and confusing… it’s in my area which is the most urbanized electoral area in the province,” he said. “We’re attracting lots of seniors and in amongst those seniors are children. There’s a school adjacent to Roberton. People are encouraged to walk… We’re encouraging pedestrians and development but we also need to encourage safety.”
The board passed the motion.
Stanhope led an initiative to install a sidewalk along Wembley Road in French Creek, an area experiencing much of the same problems. The project cost approximately $300,000.
