A crosswalk and intersection in Saanich where a teenager was fatally struck by a vehicle in December will undergo improvements starting Wednesday.
Kaydence Bourque, 16, was just metres from his Merriman Drive home when he was hit by a vehicle at 9:45 p.m. in a marked and lighted crosswalk on Cedar Hill Cross Road. He died the next day.
Last week, cyclist Paul O’Callaghan suffered a broken ankle, cuts and bruises when he was clipped by a truck pulling a trailer at the same spot. The first person on the scene was Crystal Bourque, the mother of Kaydence, who saw O’Callaghan get hit, ran out to stop traffic and called 911. She pleaded on social media for drivers to “please slow down.”
Mayor Fred Haynes said the improvements are coming after an outcry from Saanich residents.
“This work is in response to the community’s desire to see immediate safety improvements on this section of road,” Haynes said in a statement on Tuesday. “We heard you and we are taking action.”
Saanich Public Works crews will install delineators on the centre line on either side of the crosswalk near Merriman Drive.
There will be a new street light over top of the crosswalk and rectangular rapid-flashing beacons to replace round flashing beacons.
Crews will also install new delineators, or plastic bollards, along Cedar Hill Cross Road, providing separation from the road and asphalt sidewalk.
A “crosswalk ahead” advisory sign will be installed, as will “single-file” advisory signs for cyclists at both approaches.
Saanich said the work — expected to be complete by Friday — will also include tightening the approaches at Merriman Drive and Jennifer Road with pavement markings and delineators.
In addition, Saanich police will install a temporary speed reader board.
Haynes said Saanich’s Administrative Traffic Committee — made up of a council liaison, engineering staff and police — will discuss this segment of road and provide recommendations to continue working toward long-term improvements in the area so it’s safe “for all users.”
Dean Murdock, a former Saanich councillor and head of Better Mobility Saanich, which is calling for safer streets and more active transportation options in the district, said while he appreciates the municipality making “quick fixes” to the dangerous crosswalk, reducing vehicle speeds “is still the single most effective way to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries.”
The speed limit is currently 50 km/h, but Murdock believes the limit for that section of Cedar Hill Cross Road should be lowered to 30 km/h. It’s a major commuter route around four schools in the area that crests a hill and proceeds downward and around a curve to the crosswalk.
Murdock said there’s nothing stopping Saanich from dropping the speed limit.
Last year, Saanich council agreed to apply to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for a pilot project to reduce speed limits to 30 km/h on residential streets (those without a yellow centre line).
Murdock said the ministry has informed Saanich that it is no longer considering the pilot, and minister Rob Fleming clarified that communities can reduce residential speeds if they want to.
Murdock, who is running for mayor in October’s civic election, said there is “no reason to wait for provincial approval. Saanich can make our neighbourhood roads safer right away.”
In a letter to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Fleming says the Motor Vehicle Act establishes a “default” speed limit of 50 km/h on municipal roads unless a municipality decides otherwise.
“The [Motor Vehicle Act] does not specify the frequency or placement of speed-limit signage,” said Fleming. “It is not necessarily the case that a municipality establishing either a 30 or 40 km/h speed limit on roads within specific geographic areas in the community will need to post speed signs on every block.”
