West Nipissing council is considering adding some delayed green lights to better help pedestrians cross at certain intersections. But first, those lights need fixing.
Councillor Kris Rivard brought forward the motion, inspired to do so after hearing from constituents when he was door knocking on his campaign trail two years ago.
“There was a resident in Ward 1 who had been hit,” by a car while crossing at the lights, “and he’s still feeling the effects of that.” Quite a few others also had “some close calls, including myself maybe about a month ago,” he added.
The intersections Rivard wants to see changes at are King and Front Street, Nipissing and Front Street, and Coursol and Front Street.
The delayed green would work by pressing the pedestrian walk button at the corner, which would keep the red light on the traffic for a few seconds longer, allowing pedestrians to enter the street earlier, which also makes the people more visible to drivers.
“It helps pedestrians get into a better line of view,” Rivard said, which is handy, especially when drivers are making lefts onto Front Street. “It could add some safety for pedestrians.”
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Elizabeth Henning, West Nipissing’s Director of Infrastructure Services, noted that the municipality already has “that all red cycle in the lights,” but with council’s approval, that start time for pedestrians “could be extended.”
All traffic lights within the municipality have sensors underground that detect when vehicles are there. However, all of these “are not working” at the moment, Henning explained. “It’s a recent discovery,” she told council, and “we are working on budgeting to replace those with overhead detection cameras.”
These overhead cameras will be much cheaper to install and maintain, as they don’t have to tear up all of the asphalt at the intersections for underground sensors.
‘We will look into putting that into our capital budget for next year, Henning said.
Rest assured, those lights all work, but they are “in default mode,” they will not register that your vehicle is waiting and alter accordingly, the light’s timers are all set to the default intervals.
“So that’s something we need to correct on our lights,” Henning concluded.
Once corrected, and the municipality anticipates the light timing issue will be corrected next year, council will decide whether to delay that green for pedestrians as well.
“I think it’s something that could improve pedestrian safety,” Mayor Kathleen Thorne Rochon said, speaking of implementing the delayed greens. “And if it’s a limited cost, I would be supportive of it.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
