Time for action to make busy corner safer

EDITORIAL
For the second week in a row, a Stratford resident with a very unhappy tale to relate about the intersection of C.H. Meier Boulevard and Ontario Street has come forward to tell the Gazette of their frustration with impatient and careless drivers, with police who they believe don’t take the incidents and danger seriously and the media, including the Gazette, which “trivializes” car-pedestrian collisions.

The two people who have come forward are private individuals who aren’t seeking the spotlight but who are hoping that registering a public complaint might result in changes at the corner with which people have had issues for years. They are doing this for others and deserve thanks for bringing the matter to the fore.

The intersection in question is a very wide one, made that way by the first stage of the redevelopment of Ontario Street in the past decade. While it might appeal visually – there are two long islands on either side of the crossing street, C.H. Meier Boulevard – appearance seems to be trumping safety when people are afraid to walk across the intersection or, as in the case written about in this paper this week, ride across in their scooters. Specifically, the walk signal which lights up for crossing Ontario gives pedestrians a total of 25 second to make the journey. By the time some people reach only half way, the white walk signal is gone, replaced by the red. With the way drivers jump into intersection these days and speed through red lights, pedestrians need to be aware that they are quite literally taking their lives in their hands by crossing at this corner.

But then, studies have shown that one of the most dangerous places to cross any intersection is at the lights because that is where most in-town traffic accidents happen. It seems crashes at Huron and Forman street in the west of Stratford are a weekly occurrence.

We vote for bringing in a “square dance” arrangement of lights at C.H. Meier and Ontario. All lights stay red at the same time giving all pedestrians time to get across in every direction. Let the traffic wait. It’s time cars, SUVs and trucks took second place to moms with kids in strollers and people with mobility issues who ride scooters.

High time.