Morinville residents share traffic safety thoughts

Jean Wichowski has lived by Morinville's Sunnydale Park for decades. To hear her describe it, it's less a park and more of a drag strip.

"For the last 20-some-odd years, if not more, I've heard, usually once high-school is out, the revving of the motors as they race around the corner," she says of the traffic. Then she sees cars rip past the park at 40 to 60 kilometres an hour. The posted speed limit is 30.

"We've had people lose control of vehicles," she says, recalling one truck that plowed through a cable box and parked truck.

"I've never seen anyone there with photo radar," she said.

Wichowski was one of about 30 residents who came to Morinville's Community Cultural Centre Tuesday night for a traffic safety open house. Part of the town's ongoing traffic and pedestrian safety review, the event was meant to collect ideas on how to make the town's streets a safer place.

Debbie Oyarzun, the town's chief administrative officer, said she was surprised by the variety of issues that turned up.

"One gentleman had a discussion about a stop sign in a particular location," she said, while others were concerned about crosswalks.

Wichowski says she's worried about kids near Sunnydale Park.

"It's a well-known area for speeding," she said. "Why is there no photo radar there?"

Stopping speeders

Residents got to view maps showing signs, collisions and photo radar zones in Morinville, and voice their concerns to town staff. By the end of the night, visitors had covered the maps with suggestions written on sticky-notes.

Richard Kostner was one of several visitors with a gripe about photo radar. The cops were ticketing people for speeding while leaving town, and that's a money grab, he said.

"It's not right," he argued. "There's no traffic there. There's no walkway. There's no intersection there. There's nothing there to call it safety."

Staff Sgt. Mac Richards of the Morinville RCMP disagreed. There are trails, stores and pedestrians at all four exits to Morinville, he noted, and police have clocked drivers going over 100 km/hr. within town limits.

"Until you leave the town's boundaries, there's a very good chance you'll come across pedestrians, cyclists and kids," he said.

Robert and Aileen Daoust have worries about crosswalks, particularly on 100 Avenue. They pick up their grandson on that road every day and often see drivers ripping through marked crosswalks.

"Currently the crosswalk [sign] is being completely covered over by a tree," Aileen said. "We need way more visible crosswalks."

She suggested flashing lights would also help.

The town will likely step up its tree maintenance as a result of this safety review, Oyarzun said. Anyone who spots a tree blocking a sign should call the town to trim the tree.

Adding lights would be trickier, she continued, as the road is technically owned by the province. Still, events like this open house would give the town more evidence with which to convince the province to add such lights, she said.

Sean Strang said the town needs to get drivers on 100 Avenue to slow down.

"Part of the battle is enforcement," he said, but another is appearance.

"People are in highway mode. They don't think anyone's around," he said.

Adding lights or taller buildings would make the town more city-like, he argued, forcing drivers to slow down and look around.

The town's Coeur de Morinville area structure plan will address these issues, Oyarzun said.

"Do we want a big four-lane freeway going through [town] or a more nestled-in, beautification-type of appearance for our downtown?"

Staff will now take comments from the open house and present recommendations to town council before the end of the year, Oyarzun said.

Traffic safety comments should go to [email protected].