Teen struck by vehicle affirms fears on Dominion

People living along and near Dominion Boulevard have been calling Coun. Paul Borrelli for the last year, gravely concerned about the speed of traffic and the safety of their kids.

And then Monday, a 16-yearold Massey high school student was seriously hurt when he got off a northbound Transit Windsor bus with his friends at a stop in the 1900 block of Dominion at about 3:30 p.m. He attempted to cross the street but was struck by a passing minivan and sent flying into the western ditch.

“That accident was waiting to happen, it’s not just a fluke,” Borrelli declared on Tuesday, expressing frustration over trying to find solutions to what he believes is an unsafe situation on the heavily travelled two-lane road.

“I’ve been working on this for months with no success,” he added.

The injured boy was in stable condition with life-threatening injuries Tuesday in the intensive care unit at Windsor Regional Hospital’s Ouellette campus.

Police are still investigating and wouldn’t comment on whether the vehicle that struck him was speeding or on other details of the crash. When officers arrived at the scene Monday, they found friends and bystanders tending to the boy who was sitting conscious in the ditch.

The driver of a gold Dodge Caravan had stopped at the scene and was interviewed by police. Police said they believe they’ve identified the driver involved in the accident.

Though they’ve talked to some witnesses, police believe there may still be witnesses they haven’t spoken to and are appealing for them to come forward. They can call investigators at 519-255-6700, ext. 4111, or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS), or online at catchcrooks.com.

Transit Windsor executive director Pat Delmore confirmed the boy was a passenger who exited the bus and was hit crossing the street. He said the boy crossed while other passengers were still getting off the bus.

“Once they’re off, we have no control of them,” Delmore said. “We can certainly recommend they don’t do that, but it’s not something we have any control over.”

Jack Foote, who has lived in the 1900 block of Dominion for the last 28 years, said crashes along this stretch of road are an “everyday occurrence.”

“This street is terrible for speed, everyone is in a hurry,” he said, recalling one such crash recently in which a pickup truck went through his neighbour’s ditch, then through his ditch, then another neighbour’s ditch before plowing into a fence.

Borrelli said people are speeding excessively on Dominion from Grand Marais Road to Totten Street. So he said Dominion needs traffic-calming measures and some alternative routes to relieve the high volumes on the street.

He said he would like to connect Ojibway Street, a road that runs from Dominion past Mark Avenue, but then stops for a block — interrupted by a clump of trees on a city right of way — before continuing west. That small woodlot is environmentally protected by the Ministry of Natural Resources, according to Borelli, and the city’s been trying to get permission to use it.

He would also like to install traffic-calming measures on Dominion, including perhaps traffic lights at Ojibway and adding bike lanes which he says tend to automatically slow traffic. There would be room for bike lanes if the city simply covered the road’s unsightly ditches, he said.

Bike lanes are a “wonderful idea,” said Dominion Boulevard resident Michael Stewart, who said there seems to be many accidents on the road.

“Bottom line, it’s basically due to impatience,” he said. “Everyone is worried about themselves instead of taking a moment to care about other people.”

Another resident living near Monday’s incident, said it’s the fourth in front of her house in the last year.

“I walk on the sidewalk with my daughter and it’s scary, people drive like idiots,” said the woman, who only provided her first name, Elise. “They need to fix it.”

Windsor’s city engineer Mark Winterton said Dominion has some capacity and congestion problems, particularly at the Northwood Street intersection. Though traffic calming along Dominion isn’t in the city’s five-year budget forecast, improving the intersection is, as part of the Central Box study for improving South Windsor’s most troubling traffic problems.

He’s hoping to get the intersection improvements approved for the 2018 budget, and the extension of Ojibway is also being worked on. Both would solve some of the traffic problems on Dominion, he said.

Winterton said though the Dominion corridor isn’t in the fiveyear forecast, that can change at council’s behest. And the city always likes to have some plannedout projects, “shovel ready” in case a higher of level of government announces new funding.

He also said the Central Box proposal to solve the bottleneck on Dougall Avenue — known by critics as the Dougall death trap for its lack of bike lanes and sidewalks — could move ahead next year. Geotechnical work has been approved for this year, to determine what type of pedestrian and bike tunnel will need to be built under the old CN tracks.

Winterton expects to have a solid estimate for the work for the 2018 budget. He said the city still needs to get approval from CN.

“This would be an absolutely amazing, transformational project for the city if we can get it done.”

Bottom line, it’s basically due to impatience. Everyone is worried about themselves instead of taking a moment to care about other people.