{"id":6529,"date":"2024-01-24T16:27:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T20:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6529"},"modified":"2024-01-24T18:19:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T22:19:22","slug":"queens-county-to-study-safety-at-three-way-stop-in-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/01\/24\/queens-county-to-study-safety-at-three-way-stop-in-liverpool\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens County to study safety at three-way stop in Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Region of Queens councillors are looking for ways to improve safety at the intersection at Main and Market streets in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Councillors at the Region of Queens want something done to address pedestrian safety at the three-way stop in downtown Liverpool.<\/span><\/p>\n

The intersection at Main and Market streets has seen its share of collisions and close calls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday, a 79-year-old woman was hit<\/a> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The incident reignited concern in the community about the safety of that intersection and others in town.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the frustrations,\u201d Mayor Darlene Norman said Wednesday in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver my years of driving, I have been on both sides of that coin,\u201d as a pedestrian and as a motorist.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to minutes from a July 2019 meeting, the previous council had rejected the idea of crosswalk lights. It would have cost $27,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then-CAO Chris McNeill told councillors that it was staff\u2019s opinion that installing lights \u201cwill not improve safety or eliminate pedestrians\u2019 inattention when crossing the intersection\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study concluded that existing traffic control wasn\u2019t an issue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leanne Arnott, owner of nearby Five Girls Baking, said this week after the most recent incident that pedestrian-controlled lights should be installed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Arnott said she\u2019s happy that council is going to address the issue, but that they should also involve the community in their discussions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said they will consider all options and wait for staff to come back with a report.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil places public safety first. I do not believe this council would ever make a decision not to do something because of the cost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Norman said, it\u2019s the responsibility of pedestrians and motorists to be careful in all intersections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Norman said they\u2019ve heard from residents about other areas in Liverpool where safety is a problem, such as the intersection at Queens Place Drive.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors also asked staff to study those and other areas that need attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/crosswalkfolojan2424.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 On Monday, a 79-year-old woman was hit in the crosswalk and taken to South Shore Regional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1664,1663,39,1486,1653,24,1574,592],"class_list":["post-6529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-crosswalk-safety","tag-intersection","tag-liverpool","tag-main-street","tag-market-street","tag-region-of-queens","tag-regional-council","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6529"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6535,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions\/6535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}