Re: the letter “Road in need of improvement” in the June 10 Saanich News.
I met with a senior official at Saanich Municipal Hall a few years ago over exactly the same problem. I was informed that Doncaster would never be widened or have sidewalks as it was part of a plan to keep Saanich “rural”.
The dangerously narrow part I was told was a part of the “traffic calming” that planners were attempting to create throughout Saanich. This initiative is a dismal failure leading to traffic infuriation and frustration for most drivers.
Another nearby example on Doncaster is the intersection at Oceanview Road. The original simple two-way stop signs on Oceanview were replaced by a dangerous traffic circle. Some drivers choose to enter the circle from the wrong direction, leading to some scary near misses.
At the above meeting I had proposed that the addition of two more stop signs would make the intersection into a four-way stop. This was met with the statement that “on minor side roads nobody stops at four-way stops, therefore they do not work.”
All I can say is that they are a lot safer than the current traffic circle. As for the decision to plant vision-blocking bushes in the middle of the circle, that has led to some frightening encounters with cyclists travelling at speed down Doncaster.
John Rowling
Saanich
