Prioritizing Road Safety

From the first day I was elected, there is no issue I hear more about – every single day – than safety on our roads. And I’ve responded with traffic calming measures throughout the ward, improvements to problematic intersections like Maitland / Erindale / Glenmount, and a robust program of installing speed humps and speed cushions.

And I’ve pushed to get the Centrepointe traffic calming plan back on track; found funding for a pedestrian crossing at Baseline and Rockway; and campaigned against the removal of important speed cameras that protected our kids.

I successfully fought for red-light camera revenue to be used exclusively for road safety purposes, getting the City to stop taking this money for general revenues.

We have more work to do. Cars are still speeding through neighbourhoods, many of our schools have tremendous and unsafe traffic problems during drop-off and pick-up times, and too many of our streets lack essentials like sidewalks and street lighting.

Solutions for Road Safety:

College Ward needs permanent traffic calming, flex stakes need to be a temporary solution
Outstanding unsafe intersections, like the Holly Acres/Richmond/Nanaimo intersection, need to be improved now
Ottawa Police Service traffic enforcement must be expanded, including problems with street racing and noisy exhaust systems
School Streets program needs to be expanded for all schools who want it and can support it
Street lighting needs to be implemented for dark streets, like Crestview and Qualicum, where it hasn’t existed, and pilot new lighting measures for streets with ditches
More sidewalks and cycling infrastructure in our neighbourhoods so people can choose to not use a car when appropriate