Despite a plea from one Bradford West Gwillimbury councillor, the town will not hire a crossing guard to patrol the corner of Colborne Street and Britannia Avenue.
BWG council voted last week against putting one there after a report by town staff stated it was not necessary.
Coun. Gary Baynes, who represents the ward in which that intersection falls, was the only member of council to vote in favour of a crossing guard.
“The speed of the cars that are whipping up and allegedly stopping... If you’ve been on the Colborne 500 before … most barely stop at the stop sign, scaring the kids,” he said at an Aug. 7 meeting.
“It’s a dangerous intersection. Because it’s so wide, the average kid will cut diagonally if they think they can get away with it. In my heart, not just because it’s in my ward, I think this intersection absolutely deserves a crossing guard.”
A review of whether that intersection should get a crossing guard was done in May, according to the staff report.
For two days, town staff members counted the number of people and vehicles crossing the intersection during one-hour periods in the morning, midday and afternoon.
According to procedure, in order for a crossing guard to be warranted, there must be:
- Minimum of 40 elementary school-aged students crossing
- Lack of sufficient gaps in traffic for crossing
- Observed conflicts or high potential for conflicts between students and vehicles
What staff found were 41 students crossing — just more than the bare minimum — and 195 vehicles went through the intersection, read the report. As well, there were no pedestrian/vehicle conflicts and “acceptable” pedestrian confidence in crossing the street.
Comparatively, the report highlighted three other four-way, stop sign-controlled intersections with crossing guards that have higher crossing numbers:
- Northgate Drive and Fletcher Street: 101 pedestrians, 262 vehicles
- Miller Park Avenue and Langford Boulevard: 48 pedestrians, 288 vehicles
- Miller Park Avenue and West Park Avenue: 164 pedestrians, 336 vehicles
In BWG, there are full-time crossing guards at eight locations, and four backup crossing guards, said Brent Lee, the town’s manager of enforcement.
Though BWG council voted against adding a crossing guard to Colborne and Britannia, it approved an amended recommendation to have town staff repaint the road lines there before school starts again this fall and to have staff monitor the intersection for any changes, especially through the winter.
