City report proposes lower-height flashing lights at St. Vital crosswalk where boy was killed
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/06/2018 (2130 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
City hall is proposing the installation of low-mounted flashing lights at the St. Anne’s Road and Varennes Avenue pedestrian crosswalk where an eight-year-old boy was struck and killed in February.
A report to the June 26 public works committee proposes the installation of the lights on a long-term trial basis.
The proposal was prompted by a request from area Coun. Brian Mayes after the boy’s death.
Surafiel Musse Tesfamariam, a Grade 3 student, was with his mother at the crosswalk when he was struck by the vehicle.
The boy’s death was the third at that crossing since 1981.
“I’m largely supportive of the report to get some lower, eye-level flashers in there,” Mayes (St. Vital) told reporters Wednesday.
The crossing is equipped with the familiar high-mounted flashing lights as other crosswalks, but Mayes said he favours the proposal for a trial of the lower-level lights.
“I want to get something in there and going this fall,” he said. “Roads are never accident-free, but I think we can try to do this.”
The new lighting system has a price tag of $41,900.
A copy of the department report is available for download at: http://wfp.to/K2C
The public works department had already started a study to improve vehicle access onto St. Anne’s from Stranmillis Avenue. The study was expanded to examine traffic flow in both directions on St. Anne’s, with a focus on measures that will improve pedestrian safety at the Varennes crossing.
Public works rejected residents’ proposals for the installation of traffic lights or reducing the speed limit.
Mayes, who isn’t a member of the committee, said he will attend Monday’s meeting and urge the councillors to accept the recommendation.
“This is a location where we have to do something because we’ve had this history of fatalities,” he said, adding it’s possible that after the trial period the lower-level lights could be installed at other pedestrian crossings.
“Maybe it can become a model for what we can do elsewhere in the city,” he said.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
