Speeds lowered, flashing light coming to intersection
Councillor Marty Beelen continues to look for ways to reduce collisions at two problem intersections on County Road 9, east of Cashtown Corners.
He amended his motion tabled at Clearview council’s Monday meeting to investigate adding signage warning “cross traffic does not stop” at the intersections of Centre Line Road and 3/4 Sideroad Sunnidale in place of rumble strips.
Area residents have been vocal in their opposition to rumble strips but are in favour of speed reduction. They are hoping that lowering the posted speed limits will prompt GPS navigation systems to bump north-south traffic back to Airport Road.
Beelen was also able to get support for his motion to reduce the speed limit to 60 km/hr on Centre Line Road and 3/4 Sideroad Sunnidale, northbound and southbound approaching the intersections.
He is also investigating the installation of speed cameras and speed tables, and he reported that the County of Simcoe is adding flashing lights to the stop signs at Centre Line Road.
“This is my solution to some of the problems we are having there,” said Beelen.
A traffic study found that from 2015- 2020 there were 33 collisions on Centre Line Road and 17 on 3/4 Sideroad Sunnidale.
“We’ve had 14 [collisions] in half a year,” said Beelen, adding that the data indicates the volume of traffic is increasing, even though the township does not have updated traffic counts.
“Reducing the speed approaching these intersections should reduce the severity of accidents if they occur,” reported Beelen.
Road crews will also be painting the words ‘stop ahead’ on the asphalt leading up to the stop sign.
“I hesitate to include more signage,” said deputy director of public works Dan Perreault. “Too much signage and it becomes part of the scenery and people don’t pay attention to it.”
He said the municipality is trying to do the most that it can to keep motorists safe but there is some outrageous driver behaviour that cannot be controlled. “I would be concerned with adding too much, too soon,” said Perreault.
He said he will be talking with the township’s traffic consultant and the County of Simcoe before bringing a report back to council.
As an addition to the motion, council will ask the county of Simcoe to consider reducing the speed on County Road 9 leading up to the intersections.
Christian Meile, director of transportation and engineering for the County of Simcoe, confirmed a flashing red light will be installed on the top of the stop sign at Centre Line Road.
“We continue to work with our member municipalities to build up our transportation infrastructure and invest in road construction, rehabilitation and improvement projects throughout the county,” said Meile in a statement to The Echo. “Safety continues to be our highest priority. We are in regular contact with our municipal partners, and we are aware of the motion before Clearview council surrounding the intersection of County Road 9 and Centre Line Road.
“Working with Clearview, the county took action in 2022, to address previous feedback, and we remain committed to working with the township to investigate potential safety issues and take action, where necessary. Previous work included upgraded ‘stop’ and ‘stop ahead’ signs to oversized sign, upgraded pavement markings, and the county installed a streetlight at the intersection for better nighttime visibility.
“In July of this year, the county repainted stop blocks at the intersection and will be installing a flashing red light on the top of the stop sign. Timing of the flashing light install is still being determined based on the arrival of equipment.”
Councillor Robert Walker said maybe it’s time to reduce the speeds on some of the township’s north- south routes from top to bottom.
“Living off of Centre Line, I’ll tell you, it’s nuts,” Walker told fellow councillors. “I do believe that reducing the speed limit… it’s not going to matter. We can reduce that speed limit to 30 km/hr if we want to but people are still going to come over the top of that hill on Centre Line and they’re still going to do their 80 km/hr. We can do what we can do and what we can do is adjust the speed. We can’t control it and we can’t enforce it.”
