Crossover fast-tracked for Prince Road where girl, 4, was struck by bus
A pedestrian crossover should be erected sometime this summer at the site where four-year-old Lila Jane Zuest was struck by a Transit Windsor bus on May 26. “This one got really fast-tracked and so I’m happy about that,” Ward 2 Coun. John Elliott said Monday night, after councillors unanimously approved the $73,000 crossover on Prince Road, where Barrymore Lane ends, across the street from the front gates of Mic Mac Park. In early June, council ordered an expedited study of the location — a crossing hot spot for neighbourhood kids — to see if vehicular and pedestrian traffic warranted a crossover. “A pedestrian crossover is warranted,” concluded the study, which also recommends the type of new crossover being installed in cities throughout the province, with a button for pedestrians to activate flashing lights ordering motorists to stop. The pedestrian traffic was measured on Wednesday, June 6 from 4 to 8 p.m. and the following Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. While the numbers weren’t as high as in summer when the park is busy and the pool is open, they were sufficient to confirm that a crossing was needed. City staff are currently studying other locations throughout the city that might qualify for crossovers, after the province changed the warrant requirements a few years ago.
Another request by Elliott that the city study reducing the speed limit in that area of Prince Road near the park from 50 to 40 km/ h will take more time because it will be studied as part of a traffic calming process.
Elliott, who lives around the corner from the accident site and was there shortly after it happened, said Lila continues to improve in hospital in London. “She’s out of the woods, but she’s
This one got really fast-tracked and I’m so happy about that … Hopefully, into the summer it’ll start to get put up.
got a long way to go,” he said. Lila and her family were visiting Windsor from Mission, B.C., for a wedding. Lila’s mother, Vanessa Belanger, lived in Windsor until she was 18.
While Belanger was at the wedding, Lila stayed with an aunt and uncle, who took her to Mic Mac Park along with her brother and their own children.
When they stopped at Barrymore Lane to cross towards the park, Lila got excited and suddenly ran ahead onto the road, where she was struck by the bus. Elliott said staff are already in the process of ordering the materials for the crossover. It should take a couple of weeks to arrive, but in the meantime city staff have some complications to deal with to accommodate utilities at the site.
“Hopefully, into the summer it’ll start to get put up,” Elliott said.