RCMP are investigating a fatal car crash in Port Mouton on Thursday.
Queens District RCMP, EHS and fire services responded to the scene of a two-vehicle collision on Highway 103 at 9:16 a.m.
An eastbound Mazda 3 and a westbound International truck collided on the highway.
An 84-year-old man who was the driver and lone occupant of the Mazda died at the scene, RCMP said in a news release on Saturday.
The 35-year-0ld driver and lone occupant of the truck was taken to hospital with non-fatal injuries. RCMP did not provide an update on his condition.
An RCMP collision reconstructionist was at the scene, and the highway was closed for several hours.
Police are asking anyone with information on the crash, including dashcam footage, to contact Queens District RCMP at 902-354-5721. Or anonymous tips can be given to Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477, online at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca or by using the P3 Tips app.
The Region of Queens wants ‘clear, enforceable provisions’ around e-bike and e-scooter use. (Mercea Iancu via Pixabay)
The Region of Queens wants to figure out how to regulate e-scooters and e-bikes in the municipality.
And that could include allowing them on sidewalks.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said that at the Nov. 13 police advisory board meeting, Queens District RCMP Const. Andrew Winsor reviewed the Motor Vehicle Act provisions around e-scooters.
“We discussed the uses of these devices on all roads, but the most challenged road was Bristol Avenue,” Amirault told her fellow councillors at Tuesday’s regular council meeting.
“ The board discussed sidewalk versus roadway use for the e-scooters. Due to the narrow lanes and heavy traffic in this area, it was suggested sidewalk use for limited areas, such as these supported by signage, with expectations for reductions in speed.”
Residents told councillors at their recent town hall sessions that it’s become too dangerous as a pedestrian in some areas, with the rise in popularity of the devices.
They reported people riding e-scooters and e-bikes at high speeds and not paying attention to what they were doing.
Councillors asked staff to develop “clear, enforceable provisions regulating e-bikes and e-scooters as recommended by the police advisory board”.
They also want staff to come up with amendments to a bylaw that restricts skateboard use in downtown Liverpool.
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton said the 1998 bylaw prohibiting skateboards at Fort Point, on Main Street, park of Market Street and near the Visitor Information Centre is too restrictive.
“The police advisory board wanted to remedy that since we have a lovely skate park and we’re promoting activity and further engagement with our youth. So that doesn’t jibe with the council of the day.”
She said Winsor told councillors that they can’t do anything about reckless e-scooter and e-bike use without a municipal bylaw.
“Where the municipality doesn’t have bylaws with e-bikes and e-scooters, he can’t do any ticketing. So once we have a bylaw in place that covers that, if someone is going excessive speed on Bristol, he actually would be able to ticket them.”
The Motor Vehicle Act does extensively regulate the use of e-scooters. It explicitly says they should be treated like bicycles, and are not allowed on sidewalks.
Users of bicycles, e-scooters, skateboards and other similar devices are also supposed to wear helmets.
“Where a roadway has a bicycle lane for bicycles travelling in the same direction that a cyclist is travelling, the operator of an electric kick-scooter shall ride in the bicycle lane unless it is impracticable to do so,” the act says.
“An operator of an electric kick-scooter who is not riding in a bicycle lane shall ride as far to the right side of the roadway as practicable or on the right-hand shoulder of the roadway.”
The Nova Scotia government recently passed a new Traffic Safety Act, which is due to replace the Motor Vehicle Act. It has not been proclaimed yet, so the current Motor Vehicle Act stands.
Under the new act, however, much of the responsibility for regulating the use of bicycles, e-scooters and e-bikes would fall to municipalities.
Mayor Scott Christian said he’s unsure why provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act aren’t being enforced. But he said he hopes the staff report will help clarify who’s responsible.
“It seems to me that some other municipalities will have already tackled this one. So I’ll be interested to see what approaches to regulating the appropriate and safe use of those devices within a town context where there is sidewalk infrastructure in place.”
Councillors also asked staff to investigate traffic calming measures in the town of Liverpool to respond to residents’ concerns about speeding by motor vehicles.
Dave White, president of the Queens County ATV Association, at a July public information session on road trails. (Rick Conrad / File)
ATV users will soon be able to travel more easily through Queens County.
Regional councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday evening to create a bylaw that would allow the vehicles on some municipal roads.
The bylaw will designate five routes around Liverpool that riders can use to access services or other trails.
Dave White, president of the Queens County ATV Association, and about 30 supporters were at the council meeting for the vote.
“We’re really excited with the decision of council tonight to move forward to the bylaw phase with all five road trails in the Region of Queens Municipality, specifically in the former township, to create trail-to-trail and trail-to-amenities connections,” White said in an interview afterward.
“And I think this is going to be a really positive thing for our community so we’re very excited.”
It’s been about two years since the association and the Queens Rails to Trails Association approached the region to create a connected trail network similar to those that exist in neighbouring Lunenburg and Shelburne counties and in other parts of Atlantic Canada.
ATV groups say that the changes will bring more economic activity to Queens County. In 2022, ATV users said they spent $454 million in Nova Scotia.
The Nova Scotia government passed the Road Trails Act in 2023, which allows off-highway vehicles on provincial and municipal roads with certain conditions.
The region formed an ad hoc committee with local ATV organizations. The groups consulted with property owners, held public engagement sessions and asked for feedback in an online survey.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. About 180 people attended an information session at the Liverpool Fire Hall in July. Nobody voted against any of the five proposed routes. (Note: The routes are explained in detail at the end of this story.)
The online survey garnered between 74 and 84 per cent support for each route.
Those routes are behind the municipal offices on White Point Road and at various points from the Trestle Trail that would allow access to the Visitor Information Centre, downtown shops and Queens Place Drive.
In a staff report to council, project officer Richard Lane said comments from residents were mostly positive, but some were confused about the rules, while others worried about how those rules would be enforced.
The region’s traffic authority, Director of Infrastructure Adam Grant, said increased traffic from ATVs may contribute to driver confusion in some areas, like the intersection of Bristol Avenue and Milton Road.
He said he wanted to ensure that public safety remains the priority as the region moves ahead with a bylaw.
The region also consulted five other municipalities with road trail networks – the towns of Oxford, Pictou, Shelburne and Yarmouth and the city of Corner Brook, NL.
The municipality asked Queens District RCMP for their feedback but didn’t get a response.
Mayor Scott Christian said Queens will likely use municipal bylaws in other jurisdictions as their guide.
“We’re going to take all those lessons and try to … do it right the first time and just make it really clear and easy for the users about how they can navigate the road trails through the town of Liverpool, where they can go, where they can’t go, how they can safely operate their vehicles in town. I’m really excited about it.”
As with any new bylaw, the region must notify the public and give them an opportunity to comment at a public hearing. Christian said it shouldn’t take long to draft it.
White says road trail bylaws in other places are usually brief, since a lot of the regulations are already in provincial legislation.
He says that after lobbying two separate councils for the past two years, he’s happy that ATV users will soon get a greenlight to ride on certain roads.
“There are lots of things going on in a muncipality at any given time and while this took a little longer than we had hoped, we’re very happy with the outcome.”
FIVE PROPOSED ROAD TRAIL ROUTES IN LIVERPOOL (Source: Region of Queens staff report from Richard Lane, presented at Oct. 28 council meeting)
Route #1
From the rail trail as it enters Liverpool from the Shelburne direction and emerges from the walking trail behind the municipal office at 249 White Point Road, the road trail would allow a right turn onto West Street and left onto Harley Umphrey Drive. The road trail would then cross Hwy 3 and join the Trestle Trail, the road trail would also continue along George Street and end at the intersection with Old Port Mouton Road.
Route #2
Diverging from the Trestle Trail, the road trail would turn right onto King Street, left onto Lawrence Street, and right onto Wolfe Street until rejoining the Trestle Trail at Central Boulevard. The purpose of this road trail would be to avoid travel through a residential backyard and a section with poor sight lines and steep gradient.
Route #3
From the Trestle Trail as it crosses Main Street, the road trail would allow a left turn as far as the end of municipal street jurisdiction at Mersey Place Court. This would allow access to the Cowie Well and prepare for connection to the Trestle Trail from outside town limits via Milton, should an application be submitted to the Province of Nova Scotia for access in the future.
Route #4
From the Trestle Trail, the road trail would allow a right turn onto Brunswick Street, slight left on Main Street and right onto Henry Hensey Drive as far as the Visitor Information Centre. No access to Market Street, Bristol Avenue, or Main Street would be available. This road trail would enable access to parking, shops, and services including the Visitor Information Centre.
Route #5
Following the Trestle Trail until a left turn onto an access road at 31 Milton Road, the proposed road trail joins Milton Road with a right turn to the traffic light. From the traffic lights, the route allows a right turn onto Bristol Avenue, and a left turn onto Hank Snow Drive – no further travel on Bristol Avenue would be permitted. The route also enables riders to go straight through the traffic light, or to turn left and then left again onto Queens Place Drive. The inclusion of Old Cobbs Barn Road enables future road trail designation of a section of Hwy 3 toward Brooklyn, should an application be submitted to the Province of Nova Scotia in the future. This route would enable access to multiple shops, gas stations, accommodation, and amenities such as the Hank Snow Hometown Museum and Queens Place Emera Centre.
Region of Queens councillors have voted to move ahead with changes at the three-way stop at Main and Market streets in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
The Region of Queens is going ahead with changes to the three-way stop in downtown Liverpool to address safety concerns from pedestrians and motorists.
Those are: removing the separate westbound or right-turning lane on Main Street in front of the post office and adding a curb extension to shorten the crosswalk distance; adding tactile walking surface indicators to warn visually impaired pedestrians they’re entering or leaving a crosswalk; and removing or changing some of the parking near the intersection.
Mayor Scott Christian said after the meeting that council wants Director of Infrastructure Adam Grant to come back with a plan.
Christian said he’s eager to see what could happen with the parking spaces. The region’s traffic study found that some collisions and near-collisions were caused by people entering or leaving the angled spots outside the post office.
“I’ll be interested to see what staff come up with in consultation with some experts to figure out what some other options for reconfiguration could look like there.”
CBCL representatives told councillors in July that the intersection can handle current and future traffic volumes without installing traffic lights.
The busy intersection has caused safety concerns for years. Council has returned to the issue repeatedly in the past without settling on a solution.
CBCL had asked staff whether the region wanted the study done during warmer weather in the spring when traffic activity would be higher. The region’s response was that the consultants should use their best judgement.
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton asked Grant whether the recommendation against traffic lights would have been different if the consultants had come later in the year. Grant said their conclusion about lights would have been the same.
“I think it was a valid point to be raised,” Christian said, “but I’m satisfied that our director of infrastructure felt that the methodology was appropriate.”
Christian said he’s not sure when council will see a plan for the changes at Main and Market streets. But it would have to be accounted for in next year’s budget before the work could begin.
The Region of Queens is going to make Cameron’s Corner in Liverpool an all-way stop. (Rick Conrad)
Drivers in downtown Liverpool will soon encounter another three-way stop on Main Street.
The changes are being made at the intersection of Main and Old Port Mouton Road, commonly known as Cameron’s Corner.
In response to concerns from residents and councillors about safety in the area, the region’s traffic authority plans to turn it into an all-way stop.
Another busy intersection, the three-way stop at Main and Market streets, has been the scene of many close calls between pedestrians and motorists over the years.
A report prepared by consultants CBCL in June 2024 suggested a different option at Cameron’s Corner. It recommended that Main Street be turned into a throughfare, with a stop sign on Old Port Mouton Road. They also suggested narrowing the east Main Street approach and realigning parts of the intersection.
The intersection is a busy one. It has one stop sign on Main Street at the eastbound approach, but the traffic coming from Old Port Mouton Road has the right-of-way.
The consultants said that it’s more intuitive for drivers on Main Street to have the right of way, with motorists on the minor road approach of Old Port Mouton required to stop.
Adam Grant is the Region of Queens director of infrastructure. He’s also the municipality’s traffic authority.
He told councillors at their regular meeting last week that the changes suggested by CBCL would cost about $120,000, an expense not included in this year’s operating budget.
Grant said that that part of Main Street is going to be turned into a three-way stop anyway with the planned work on the $21-million Mount Pleasant services extension and housing development at the other end of Main. And CBCL’s other recommendations for realigning the intersection will be included.
“So the intention is, once it’s converted to an all-way stop, it would stay an all-way stop in perpetuity, unless it was determined through further analysis that it wasn’t necessary and that it could be reverted to a one-way stop control,” Grant said. “The geometry realignment would be incorporated into next year’s capital work, the all-way stop would stay in that mannerism.”
Councillors can make suggestions to the traffic authority, but traffic changes are an administrative matter.
Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR that with the water and sewer upgrades planned with the Mount Pleasant work next year, some of the consultants’ changes will happen anyway.
“I think it’s a good piece of decision making, not to rip up and change that sidewalk to then next year, rip it up when we’re replacing the water and sewer through there. So with the recommendations from the CBCL report, we’ll make those alterations to the curb when we do the water-sewer work.”
Grant told councillors that Cameron’s Corner will be turned into an all-way stop this fall, with the appropriate signage to give drivers advance notice of an upcoming stop. He said the region will also let people know through social media in the next few weeks.
A traffic study presented to Region of Queens council in July concluded that traffic lights are not needed at the Main and Market intersection in downtown Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
A Liverpool resident wants the Region of Queens to do a more comprehensive study of safety at a busy downtown intersection.
Paul Deveau says a recent look at traffic at Main and Market streets was insufficient.
“Is the current configuration of this intersection safe?” he told councillors during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s regular council meeting.
“A proper risk assessment survey conducted at this intersection would be done under the worst-case scenario, or optimum or peak usage, when both vehicle and pedestrian traffic are at their highest. It would look at not just volume, but the behaviour of the traffic, such as the percentage of the vehicles not coming to a complete stop or a rolling stop, but also look at pedestrians, and if they’re stopping or looking before crossing.”
The three-way stop is one of the most heavily travelled intersections in Liverpool. And it’s seen its share of collisions and near-misses.
It’s viewed by many as one of the most dangerous areas for pedestrians in downtown Liverpool.
Councillors voted this past February to spend $24,000 on the traffic study after a crosswalk collision in January 2024 sent a 79-year-old woman to hospital.
An earlier study was done in 2015. No significant changes were made at that time.
Consultants CBCL presented their findings to councillors on July 8. They concluded that the intersection could handle current traffic volumes without extra measures like traffic lights.
Paul Deveau spoke to regional council on Tuesday about the Main and Market intersection. (YouTube)
Deveau, who ran as a candidate in the 2024 municipal elections, said he looked at similar studies done in 50 other Canadian municipalities and they were all conducted in either early spring or late fall. He questioned why this study was conducted in February.
He said that on July 7, as he was sitting outside Main and Mersey Dining Room and Coffee Bar on Main Street, he counted 232 vehicles in about 25 minutes travelling toward the three-way stop. That was higher than the 119 total morning trips observed by the consultants and the 148 total afternoon trips.
“Why do an assessment on traffic in one of the slowest months of the year?” he told councillors.
“It only looked at the traffic volume with the assumption that the people using that intersection would behave in a manner that is predictable and by the letter of the law. This council already knows that they do not. So my question to the council is this, will the council conduct a comprehensive risk assessment on that intersection or stick with the bare minimum and use the current half-measure results to make a decision?”
Mayor Scott Christian said after the meeting that in response to Deveau’s concerns, he’s going to ask for an update on the intersection at Main and Market streets.
“And so I’ll be looking for some further information from staff on that one.”
Deveau told councillors he hopes they take a more robust look at safety in the area.
“So when an accident happens again at this intersection, not if, but when, is this the justification that you want to stand for not making a change? Is this what you want to tell the next person whose life could be forever altered or their family, that you did what you could do with the information provided? What if the next person was your family member?”
A consultants report does not recommend installing traffic lights at the Main and Market intersection in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
A study of the troublesome three-way stop in downtown Liverpool has found traffic isn’t that bad and that it doesn’t warrant installing traffic lights.
Engineering firm CBCL presented its findings to council this week about the intersection at Main and Market streets.
“We found overall that the intersection has sufficient capacity for the current traffic volumes and the future traffic volumes with the current stop control configuration. We found that the traffic signals are not warranted,” David Copp, a transportation engineer with CBCL who conducted the on-site traffic study in February, told councillors at their regular meeting Tuesday.
Copp said that opinions about the intersection are mixed. While some pedestrians and business owners believe there’s no problem, others told him it is hazardous.
“There was a number of folks who identified that cars or trucks were not yielding to pedestrians. They were sort of blasting through the stop signs and just ignoring any pedestrians who were waiting. There definitely seems to be a bit of a lack of trust on the part of the pedestrian that vehicles will actually stop where they’re supposed to when they approach the intersection.”
Collision data for the area is very limited. There have been 36 reported collisions within a 100-metre radius from 2009 to 2024. Most of those were vehicle collisions. Five of them involved pedestrians.
“So it made it very challenging to draw any conclusions or highlight trends or causation between these incidents,” he said.
Overall, the study found traffic flow and vehicle speeds were within acceptable limits. And it also found that five new housing developments planned for the Mount Pleasant area just outside downtown Liverpool won’t make volumes a problem in the next 10 years.
Copp said some changes could make the area safer for pedestrians.
He said combining the through and right-turning westbound lanes at the post office on Main Street would shorten the crosswalk there and improve visibility.
There would still be an issue of cars entering and leaving the angled parking spaces next to the post office. He said most of the collisions in the area were related to those spaces and that council should consider removing or reconfiguring them.
The intersection has been the scene of lots of close calls over the years.
District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy said he doesn’t believe combining westbound lanes on Main Street is enough to protect pedestrians.
“We’ve had people hit and I think due diligence, if we just walk away from this and say we’re going to combine those two lanes, I don’t think we’re doing our job,” he said.
“I can live with the car to car (collisions), you can fix those. Car to pedestrians, you can’t fix. So I think the car to pedestrian is our biggest concern.”
He wants to see some kind of pedestrian-activated signal to alert drivers when somebody wants to cross.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said the intersection and the sidewalk approaches have to be improved to be more accessible for people with visual, hearing or mobility impairments.
“It’s very scary to go through that intersection for pedestrians, very scary. So I think there’s a lot of work we have to do there, and if it doesn’t warrant traffic lights, maybe put up the lights for the signals for the pedestrians. But I think this is a situation where we really have to do a lot of a lot more conversation, a lot more work. We just cannot leave it the way it is.”
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton told QCCR after the meeting that even though the traffic count was done in February, when numbers would be typically lower, she said it still gives a good baseline for council to consider.
“And so our conversation with that particular intersection, I think, is far from over, and we should consider if there’s any improvements that we can make to the parking there (at the post office), how we make that the best it can be, given the information that was presented today.”
The Region of Queens has greenlit design work to begin on improvements to the town bridge. (Rick Conrad)
The Region of Queens is going ahead with design work to make the town bridge safer and more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists.
The two-lane bridge over the Mersey River is the main thoroughfare into downtown Liverpool.
The steel structure was built in 1958 and spans about 100 metres with an inside width of 9.6 metres. It has a narrow sidewalk on each side. There are no paved shoulders, dedicated bike lanes or barriers to separate traffic from pedestrians.
Two years ago, regional council commissioned a technical evaluation from engineering firm CBCL to look at active transportation upgrades. Council at that time decided to hold off on any work until more funding became available from the provincial or federal governments.
Simply to maintain the bridge with no improvements would have cost $325,000. To realign the two lanes and expand one sidewalk would have cost $700,000. An active transportation expansion with a dedicated space for pedestrians and cyclists had a price tag of $3.4 million. A totally separate pedestrian bridge over the river was estimated at $4.4 million.
Adam Grant, the region’s director of infrastructure, discussed the issue this week at council’s regular meeting. He said those estimates from 2023 would now likely be about 10 per cent more. He recommended the $3.4-million option.
“I think we get rid of a lot of the challenges that’ll be found working inside the existing structure,” he told councillors.
“Going that way would open up an avenue to create bicycle lanes on the existing bridge once the sidewalks are removed, as well as it wouldn’t require a realignment of the street from lanes all the way through to Water Street so it would be less invasive on the existing street structure, and would probably be able to provide a more fulsome solution on the exterior of the bridge as opposed to trying to fit within a kind of more refined area.”
Grant said he wanted to get the design work started so that the project would be shovel-ready if funding is secured. Councillors had set aside $181,749 in the region’s capital investment plan.
Under the municipality’s current agreement with the province, maintenance and repair work on the bridge is cost-shared 50/50.
But improvements to the bridge would require a new funding agreement, he said.
“At this point under the agreement we have, they’re under no obligation to entertain any upgrades.”
Councillors supported the less costly $3.4-million active transportation expansion, but said they need to look for funding from other levels of government.
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton said she wants to see the expansion go ahead, but the region needs help from the province.
“I feel like we need to address this certainly. It’s not safe. If you’re walking on the bridge now, you’re quite high up, people misstep, and you could very easily be on the road. … We do have cyclists in Queens and so that’s a bit of a problematic place as it is,” Charlton said.
“We’re funding the design work. We should have some really meaningful conversations to look for support (for the expansion) because I don’t think we can take that on on our own, nor would it be fair for us to take it on on our own.”
Councillors voted unanimously to spend the money for the design work, while directing staff to look for funding for the improvements from the federal and provincial governments.
Region of Queens councillors are trying to address concerns about safety at Cameron’s Corner in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
Region of Queens councillors want municipal staff to investigate another hazardous intersection in Liverpool.
Coun. Courtney Wentzell brought up complaints from constituents this week about the intersection at Cameron’s Corner.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen that could very well be life-threatening,” Wentzell told his fellow councillors at Tuesday’s regular council meeting.
The intersection is a busy one, at the corner of Main Street and Old Port Mouton Road, which connects with White Point Road. It has one stop sign on Main Street, but the traffic coming from Old Port Mouton Road has the right-of-way.
“People are speeding, coming from Main Street towards Milton,” Wentzell said.
“ They’re not signalling. They’re going way too fast. There’s confusion, people coming from White Point, especially if they don’t live here. They don’t know if they should stop, if they should turn left, if they should turn right. They’re not looking to see if somebody is crossing on that crosswalk, the line of sight is absolutely horrific.”
Wentzell said that when he was campaigning in October 2024, he heard lots of concerns about the area. He’s referred those to the police advisory board, but he appealed to councillors to do more to address it.
“I was berated pretty badly here a week, two weeks ago that nothing is taking place. There was a near-miss, a lady was almost struck on that corner, trying to cross the crosswalk.”
Mayor Scott Christian said he finds the intersection challenging too.
“Ever since I moved to this community, that intersection has always kind of concerned me. … I think it would make sense for us to try to do something to address it.”
Councillors voted to refer it to the region’s traffic authority to investigate and return with a staff report with recommendations. They also wanted to know whether the Nova Scotia government would have to be involved since it may include a provincial roadway.
The Main and Market intersection in downtown Liverpool will be the subject of a traffic study by CBCL. (Rick Conrad file photo)
The Region of Queens will spend about $24,000 to do a traffic study of a downtown Liverpool intersection that has seen its share of collisions and close calls.
Last January, a 79-year-old woman was taken to hospital after being struck in the crosswalk at the intersection of Main and Market streets.
That reignited concern in the community about safety at the three-way stop.
Adam Grant, the region’s director of infrastructure, told council this week the intersection regularly has peak traffic volumes of 200 to 250 vehicles.
“Going back over the last year, we had lots of conversations regarding this intersection. Council’s concerns over the safety of it to pedestrian and motorists alike. We’ve been back and forth a few different times with reports, different analysis, different investigation.”
The previous council asked on Oct. 8 to issue a call for proposals for a traffic study of the area.
Grant said engineering firm CBCL could begin that work as early as Feb. 17. It will include looking at this intersection and others nearby, and installing cameras to monitor traffic and pedestrian movement. The firm will also interview pedestrians and motorists and use modelling software, and itt will look at projected traffic loads in the area.
Coun. Maddie Charlton said that many of the incidents seem to occur in one particular crosswalk, which runs from the post office to Five Girls Baking.
“There have been numerous pedestrians struck on one crosswalk in particular in this area with the most recent being the worst. Luckily, the woman who was struck survive. But it is an ongoing issue, and … although there haven’t been an insane amount of pedestrians hit, I think one is too many. And so we need to address that.
“I’m uncertain about this study in one sense, because I don’t know if it’s going to solve the problem that we want it to solve. … I’m curious why we couldn’t just remove that crosswalk in that specific area, given that there are other substantial crosswalks in that area.”
Grant said he’s not a traffic expert and he’s unsure whether that would be the best solution.
“I’m by far a traffic expert and I think that this study is a good investment to assure that we have a path forward to provide the paramount safety at that intersection.
“Every leg of an intersection is considered a crosswalk. Where you have increased pedestrian movement, you delineate that by putting a sign up or painting it. I’m not aware of anywhere that would have a prohibited crosswalk from occurring. So I think to do something like that, we need to to go beyond who we have in this room to make that decision (and) provide some advice and do it cautiously to make sure that we’re getting the right solution, trying to solve the problem we understand.”
In his report, Grant detailed 36 reported incidents in the area from 2009 to 2024, according to information provided by the Nova Scotia government.
Five of those involved pedestrians being hit by cars in the crosswalk. Other pedestrians have reported or witnessed near-collisions at that intersection.
Grant said the main focus of the study will be how to improve pedestrian safety in that intersection.
Mayor Scott Christian said he understands Charlton’s desire to address the issue as quickly as possible.
“Certainly we want to be well informed with respect to making the decisions, certainly don’t want to drag our feet on it. I know that this was something that was batted about a bit in the past, and it is a priority concern to be addressed for public safety.”
The study will be funded from the region’s accumulated surplus of $6 million. Grant said the company could report back to council as early as May.
Emergency crews clean up the scene of a two-vehicle collision near Tim Hortons in Liverpool on Friday morning. (Rick Conrad)
Emergency crews responded to two separate collisions in Liverpool on Friday.
The first occurred near the Tim Hortons shortly after 10 a.m. A Subaru Forrester and Hyundai Elantra collided as one was exiting onto Bristol Avenue and the other car was turning at the intersection.
An RCMP spokesman said nobody was injured, but both cars were towed.
The second one happened at about 11:45 a.m. at Henry Hensey Drive and Bristol Avenue. RCMP, EHS and Liverpool fire crews were on scene. Three vehicles were involved in that incident. Nobody was injured, RCMP said.
A spokeswoman said it appeared one car ran into another car, which then bumped another vehicle.
It snarled traffic for about an hour.
Traffic was snarled around lunch time on Friday on Bristol Avenue after three cars were involved in a collision at Henry Hensey Drive. (Rick Conrad)
Region of Queens councillors are looking for ways to improve safety at the intersection at Main and Market streets in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
By Rick Conrad
Councillors at the Region of Queens want something done to address pedestrian safety at the three-way stop in downtown Liverpool.
The intersection at Main and Market streets has seen its share of collisions and close calls.
On Monday, a 79-year-old woman was hit in the crosswalk and taken to South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater. RCMP said her injuries were not life-threatening. A driver was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk.
The incident reignited concern in the community about the safety of that intersection and others in town.
At its meeting on Tuesday, council voted to have staff review previous studies and reports and come back with recommendations to make the three-way stop safer.
“I understand the frustrations,” Mayor Darlene Norman said Wednesday in an interview.
“Over my years of driving, I have been on both sides of that coin,” as a pedestrian and as a motorist.
According to minutes from a July 2019 meeting, the previous council had rejected the idea of crosswalk lights. It would have cost $27,000.
Then-CAO Chris McNeill told councillors that it was staff’s opinion that installing lights “will not improve safety or eliminate pedestrians’ inattention when crossing the intersection”.
Instead, councillors at the time decided to post a “no left turn” sign for post office parking, remove any trees or shrubbery obstructing visibility, and asking the Queens District RCMP to step up enforcement, including traffic stops during peak hours.
A 2015 study by Insight Traffic Engineering recommended changing some signage, moving the stop sign and crosswalk from the western approach on Main Street, and moving the sidewalk shrubbery and furniture.
The study concluded that existing traffic control wasn’t an issue.
Leanne Arnott, owner of nearby Five Girls Baking, said this week after the most recent incident that pedestrian-controlled lights should be installed.
“In other cities where I have lived with pedestrian-controlled crosswalks they seem to have been very effective and very useful and I think that in this situation that would be a good thing to have here.”
Arnott said she’s happy that council is going to address the issue, but that they should also involve the community in their discussions.
Norman said Wednesday that councillors have heard many ideas — from full traffic lights to having orange flags available at each corner for pedestrians to carry as they cross.
She said they will consider all options and wait for staff to come back with a report.
“Council places public safety first. I do not believe this council would ever make a decision not to do something because of the cost.”
She said she personally supports installing accessible pedestrian signals, which include lights and sound when a pedestrian chooses to cross. But it is ultimately council’s decision.
Still, Norman said, it’s the responsibility of pedestrians and motorists to be careful in all intersections.
“So while council can do everything in its power, be it installation of traffic lights, basically it boils down to pedestrians and those driving the vehicles using safety as a No. 1 factor when going through intersections.”
Norman said they’ve heard from residents about other areas in Liverpool where safety is a problem, such as the intersection at Queens Place Drive.
And in November, residents of Main and School streets submitted a petition to council, urging the region to lower speed limits in the area and to create a four-way stop at the intersection.
Councillors also asked staff to study those and other areas that need attention.
A 66-year-old Chester Grant man is in hospital after his logging truck rolled and hit a power pole in Buckfield, Queens County, on Sunday morning, RCMP said Monday.
Queens District RCMP, firefighters and EHS responded to a single-vehicle crash at 10:52 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 210 and Labelle Road. The tractor trailer was travelling westbound on Highway 210 and suffered extensive damage.
The intersection was closed for several hours and residents were without power as Nova Scotia Power crews replaced the damaged pole. Power has been restored to the area and the road is reopened.
The driver, who was the only person in the truck, had to be extracted from the truck. He was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to hospital. RCMP said in a news release Monday that his injuries are not life-threatening.
The only traffic lights in Liverpool at the intersection of Milton Rd and Hwy 3. Photo Ed Halverson
A shift in takeout coffee buying habits is snarling traffic in Liverpool.
Mayor Darlene Norman says since the McDonald’s restaurant closed for renovations consumers have moved across the street to Tim Hortons to buy their coffees causing traffic to spill out through the intersection as people wait in line for takeout.
“It creates a backlog of traffic as people try to turn in and the holding line is full, so they end up sitting out in the road rather than going in through the parking lot and parking and either waiting their turn or walking into the building,” said Norman. “It causes road rage to say the least.”
Norman says she has spoken with RCMP and learned that despite what many people assume, it is not illegal to block an intersection.
“In my discussion with Staff Sergeant Archibald he said according to the Motor Vehicle Act you cannot be ticketed if you happen to be sitting in the middle of an intersection because where you want to go is blocked.”
*That turned out to be inaccurate as drivers can be ticketed and fined for tying up the intersection under section 122 subsection 5 of the Motor Vehicle Act which clearly states:
“no driver shall enter an intersection or a marked crosswalk except to make a left or a right turn unless there is sufficient space on the other side of the intersection or crosswalk to accommodate the vehicle he is operating without obstructing the passage of other vehicles or pedestrians.”
Further clarification from Liverpool RCMP shows the confusion is the result of a sign posted near the intersection by the Region of Queens which says there is to be no stopping anytime on a green light.
The sign erected by the municipality is unenforceable under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Region of Queens council discussed whether a traffic study is needed around the lone set of traffic lights in the former town but determined it would not resolve the problem.
“The traffic lights work fine. It’s a parking lot issue. It’s a matter of how the cars stack together, how they filter in through that,” said Norman. “What small Tim Hortons built before drive-ins does not have this problem?”
Instead, the mayor will speak with the operators of Tim Hortons and the adjoining Sobeys grocery store to ask them to work out an arrangement that will allow cars to line up for the drive through in the available parking area.
As the Region works to find a solution to the traffic woes, Norman asks residents to be considerate of others.
“Come on people don’t be rude. Don’t sit there knowingly blocking an intersection where, you’re driving from Liverpool to Brooklyn you can’t get there because that whole thing is snarled up. Just please be kind, please be respectful.”
*A previous version of this report did not reference the appropriate section of the Motor Vehicle Act. The story has been updated to properly reflect the traffic laws.
