SLOW DOWN! West Galt neighbourhood says recent accident shows need for all-way stop

Yelling at vehicles to slow down has become a morning ritual for parents waiting with their kids at a Salisbury Avenue school bus stop.

The stop, on a winding approach to what was once a four-way stop at Hardcastle, is one of several in the west Galt neighbourhood where parents like Teri Pfohl believe a serious accident is bound to happen.

Street parking, blind corners, poor sightlines and speed make the intersection hazardous for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

Nearly all residential streets in the Highland Ridge Community see multiple school bus pickups and drop offs due to the area's high population of school-aged children. Other streets of concern are Freure Drive and Hardcastle all the way to Kent Street.

But not all residents heed the call to slow down. Vehicles are often seen speeding around the stop arms on the buses, Pfohl says.

One driver was caught on a home's security camera travelling at what appears to be double the 40 km/h speed limit.

"We stand here and yell at cars all morning long," she says.

Now residents are once again demanding two stop signs that were removed in 2019 be reinstalled on Salisbury.

They were removed, the city says, because the developer of the subdivision made it an all-way stop "in error."

Residents demanded the city keep the stop signs in place back then, but were told traffic counts weren't high enough. 

The city's senior transportation engineer Jason Leach wrote that all-way stops are only recommended when traffic volumes warrant it and "are not to be installed to act as a speed control device."

They can lead to poor compliance from motorists, increased vehicle emissions and increased noise pollution, Leach wrote.

Pfohl points out there was no mention of safety in the city's messaging back then. 

In early 2022 about 60 neighbours signed a petition and approached council with their concerns. The council at the time disagreed with the request.

Two years later, Pfohl says their concerns have only increased.

They've also heard from fire and other emergency services that streets in the neighbourhood are hard to navigate due to the increased street parking and tight configurations.

Pfohl says a recent request that something be done was ignored by city staff until she reached out to Ward 5 councillor Sheri Roberts.

Roberts helped by getting the city to commit to a traffic study later this spring, but Pfohl fears if traffic counts don't warrant an all-way stop, the city won't do anything.

In that case they're going to be liable if something bad happens, she says. And neighbours who are upset with the ongoing safety issues won't hesitate to sue if someone gets hurt.

"Do we need to have another accident, or someone being hit to make the City of Cambridge hear our concerns?"

The urgency comes as those fears were almost realized earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Pfohl's daughter was on a school bus when a car came around the blind corner near Hardcastle and the bus t-boned it.

Students on the bus were fine, but Pfohl knows it's inevitable someone will be injured if nothing is done soon.

"Multiple people in the neighborhood have said they have almost been hit in their cars or on foot at this exact location."

In the meantime, planned speed reduction efforts will be rolled out by the city later this spring.

Over the next year, residential areas across Cambridge will get new 40km/h speed limit signs, while school zones will be reduced to 30km/h. Drivers can expect to see the return of the "Tommy and Friends" speed reduction signs and speed bollards too.

The Region of Waterloo is also adding more automated speed enforcement cameras to select areas.