Speed reduction approved on Yankee Line

County council agrees to reduce speed limit to 60 km/h over concerns of safety for children

Brad Sinclair got the 17 seconds he was asking for.

That’s how much longer it will take drivers to travel a 1.1-kilometre stretch of Yankee Line near Ennismore at a speed limit reduced to 60 from 80 km/h, he told Peterborough County councillors before they approved the change Wednesday.

The decision to extend the existing 60 km/h zone on County Road 14 near the James A. Gifford Causeway to the west was 14 years in the making, Sinclair said. His three children get on and off a school bus in front of their home daily.

“It’s for the safety of the kids,” he said after addressing the “human side” of the issue in a delegation to councillors that was followed by another from Selwyn Township Ennismore Ward Coun. Donna Ballantyne.

County councillors went against a staff recommendation to make the decision, but not until after significant discussion. Staff endorsed maintaining the 80 km/h speed limit and improving signage after completing a geometrics and speed limit review.

Peterborough County OPP advised there were 14 collisions on the road between 2012 and 2017, but speeding was not a contributing factor – 13 were due to driver error, engineering and design assistant manager Doug Saccoccia said.

Sinclair called that “a lot of crashes going on in a very small

area” as he addressed parts of the review during his delegation.

Saccoccia pointed out that severances were approved on the condition that County Road 14 is a high-speed corridor.

Staff explored three other alternatives, including doing nothing, reducing the speed limit to 70 km/h and improving geometrics – but removing a hill from the route would require a major capital expenditure, Saccoccia said.

The recommendation to reduce the speed limit will cost $5,000 to change signs and remove a passing lane. The staff-recommended option to upgrade and install more signage would have cost $500, but offered marginal safety improvement, he said.

Sinclair opposed aspects of the review, pointing out how he has seen collisions, rogue tires flying off vehicles, speeding, buses being illegally passed and cars screeching to a halt.

There are other dangers, too, such as the intersections with Tara Road and Peregrine Road at the west end of the stretch. “There are a lot of cars that come out of those two intersections and you don’t know they are coming.”

Sinclair, a local realtor who spoke out last year about garbage on the causeway, represented 21 families with kids who also live on the road. “Give the drivers a chance to react to kids. I’m asking for 17 seconds.”

Ballantyne said she has had many calls from citizens over the years.

“I’m very concerned about safety issues on this short stretch of Yankee Line,” she said, highlighting a community policing survey done in May 2017.

Of 216 vehicles volunteers counted during a 38-minute window, 40 per cent were travelling above the speed limit. Five of them were moving more than 20 km/h over the limit. The sample size may be small, but the results prove the danger, Ballantyne said.

Councillors also received a letter from Rev. Everett Flight, lead pastor of Causeway Christian Assembly at 1307 Yankee Line, asking for a speed limit reduction.

“This would not only be a safety precaution for our public building but would also give a greater safety factor to the residential driveways along that stretch of Yankee Line that leads to the Gifford Causeway,” he wrote.

Coun. Terry Low said the report doesn’t provide the human side of the issue, prompting CAO Troy Speck to remind councillors that staff provide objective technical information and it is up to council to consider the people factor.

“You don’t want your staff presuming community values … when they are putting their recommendations together. That’s council’s job,” he said.

Public works director Chris Bradley assured councillors the turning points at severances along the road are safe, based on the Ontario Traffic Manual.

Staff can’t make recommendations based on subjective information, he said. “It would be totally inappropriate for us to serve the role you do.”

Coun. J. Murray Jones said councillors shouldn’t “beat up on” staff for doing their jobs, but at the same time, they must listen to the people. “Sometimes, it’s just the right thing to do. And that’s what we’re dealing with here.”

There was a recent mishap not captured in the OPP data where a vehicle went off the road to avoid a school bus that was stopped, Coun. Sherry Senis said. “It’s a just a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured or killed.”

Coun. Mary Smith, who opposed the speed limit change, pointed out that signage changes and other improvements helped in similar situations elsewhere, such as on Buckhorn Road. Lowering speed limits won’t reduce aggressive driving, she said.

NOTE: See Brad Sinclair’s interactive presentation to county council at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.