Re: Residents near Esquimalt Lagoon are concerned about speeding (Gazette, May 17)
We live on Milburn Road in Colwood and see vehicles race up and down the hill all day long. The traffic volume is much worse during rush hours, but the excessive speeding can happen at any time of day, or in fact, any day.
Sunday afternoons are notorious for the whine of vehicles rocketing down the hill. There are some sports cars that can be heard winding up and changing gears all the way up the hill. They turn the corner off Ocean Boulevard and it’s pedal to the metal. By the time they get to Aloha Avenue, they’re going highway speed, which they maintain all the way above Hockering Road and the blind driveways just above it.
On the downhill run, the road slopes towards some peoples’ homes. Emergency braking at high speed could send a vehicle into someone’s living room.
One cannot walk Milburn Road without feeling unsafe and uptight. It isn’t safe to cross the street unless a vehicle is at least two blocks away. There are no sidewalks, no crosswalks. In fact, the speed is only posted at either end of the street. There is nothing in the middle to remind people – not that anyone seems to care.
For those of you who are habitual speeders on Milburn Road, you should know that people live here. We try to walk our kids to and from school, the schools walk their classes down to the beach for field trips. Newspaper carriers and postal workers try to work their routes safely. Our elderly (and sometimes unsteady) parents try to get some exercise by walking. Cyclists and runners delight in conquering the hill.
We walk our dogs. We try to simply sit out on our front porch and enjoy some peace and quiet on a warm afternoon, but the constant sight and sound of racing vehicles is more likely to exacerbate hypertension. I can’t help but wonder how you would feel if I drove through your neighbourhood with such flagrant disregard for the safety of you and your family.
We have a beautiful view. Why not slow down and enjoy it? Give yourself a minute and a half out of your busy day to lower your stress. The excessive speeds at which you are driving are only putting all of us at risk.
Ask any emergency vehicle driver and they will tell you that you are not saving time by speeding. Emergency vehicles save time because their lights and sirens permit them to proceed ahead of traffic and through intersections – you’re not allowed to do that.
Milburn Road, Lagoon Road, and Ocean Blvd. were never meant to be major arteries, and yet they are being used that way. All the designated major arteries have traffic lights, electronic speed signs with happy\frowny faces, islands with landscaping to provide visual narrowing and traffic calming. We have nothing to protect us.
The RCMP have increased their presence, but they cannot be here 24/7 and their calming effect lasts only as long as their presence. Perhaps, the answer is for the lagoon to be turned into a park with speed bumps at regular intervals along Ocean Blvd. Then everyone could enjoy the waterfront safely and, I suspect, most of the yahoos would give up on this route entirely. Too bad if it had to come to that.
Susan MacDonald
Colwood