It’s about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday and North Bay Police Services Constable Ken Ayres is set up near the intersection of McKeown Avenue and Cartier St where he is using a laser radar detector on a tripod as part of a traffic enforcement initiative on the busy thoroughfare.
“I believe we have done six in a very short period of time, all six for speeding,” admitted Ayres who is communicating his radar results to two cruisers that are parked in the area.
“Considering there is a threshold giving grace to some people, based on time of day, volume of traffic, road conditions, an officer isn’t going to stop someone for going 52 in a 50, it is just not going to happen. But when you start exceeding 60 --- the speeds today. We have seen a gentleman at 73 in a 50 km/h zone, in a high volume area with lots of traffic, that’s unacceptable.”
The area is under scrutiny of late, as for the second time in a week an accident involving pedestrians occurred near the entrance to the newly developed McKeown Avenue strip mall.
Yesterday, two pedestrians were struck and an accident on November 25th led to the death of a woman.
See that story here: https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/struck-pedestrian-dies-of-her-injuries-79280
“Primarily what we are trying to do is slow down the general traffic,” said Ayres.
“It’s a high volume area. There is a lot of commercial property here now and despite there being a set of traffic lights which I consider to be functioning, the road condition is good, and so on, but we are still getting pedestrian related collisions and I don’t understand it.”
Ayres doesn’t believe the good weather in November and early December has led to more aggressive driving.
“This in North Bay is September’s weather, and people generally drive in accordance to what the weather conditions are regardless of how late in the year the good weather goes. But I want to remind drivers and all motorists the onus is on them to look after that 3,000 to 4,000 pound vehicle they are operating and watch out for pedestrians, slow down.”
