Kitchener approves guard to help kids cross dangerous roundabout
KITCHENER — A crossing guard will soon be helping Grade 7 kids cross a busy roundabout at FischerHallman Road and Seabrook Drive after parents came to city council to plead for their kids’ safety.
“Vehicles just fly through that roundabout,” said Jennifer Poortinga, whose child is one of 27 kids who must cross the busy street twice a day to get to and from school. “The kids are doing great, they’re making eye contact with drivers and they’re making sure the cars stop before they cross, but these are just 11- and 12-year-old kids,” she said.
The roundabout is the only one in the region near a school where the speed limit is 60 km/h, said Coun. Kelly Galloway-Sealock, who brought forward the motion for the crossing guard at Monday night’s council meeting.
Kitchener council voted unanimously to pay for a crossing guard to make sure the children cross safely, even though Fischer-Hallman is a regional road and a guard would normally be paid for by the region. But with just 27 kids crossing, the intersection doesn’t meet the threshold for a crossing guard.
Janet Metcalfe Public School opened in September on Seabrook Drive, and boundary changes to address overcrowding at Jean Steckle Public School mean some former Steckle students are now attending the new school, on the other side of Fischer-Hallman.
Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said parents mentioned their concerns about the crossing when he attended the school opening, and he and several other dignitaries, including police Chief Bryan Larkin, went to look at the roundabout.
“The speed that people were coming through that roundabout — some actually blew right through, even though there were very identifiable police officers present,” he said.
“I think this is really important,” said Galloway-Sealock. “Safety and pedestrian safety is of the utmost importance, especially with children.”
Council voted to have the need for the guard reviewed every year, and to ask the region to lower the speed limit to 50 km/h, to trim vegetation around the roundabout to improve visibility, and to consider installing a crosswalk with flashing lights to better alert drivers to be on the lookout for pedestrians.
“Safety and the elimination of risk trumps everything else,” said Coun. John Gazzola. “I don’t like to spend money, but there are times we have to.”
The crossing guard will cost $7,500 a year, about half what it would normally cost, because the city will be able to use another nearby guard who is at a school with different bell times, said Justin Readman, the city’s general manager of development. The crossing is temporary — schoolchildren will no longer need to cross the busy intersection when a new school opens on Tartan Avenue in 2020.