Students at St. Mary’s High School say crossing the roundabout near their school remains a dicey proposition.
“I don’t feel safe. I feel like cars are going to hit me,” student Hailey Cavalier said Thursday.
The Region of Waterloo has spent several years educating drivers on how to properly navigate roundabouts like the one at Homer Watson Boulevard and Block Line Road.
Drivers are supposed to yield the right of way to pedestrians who are crossing at the entrances or exits of roundabouts.
Student Rue Mupanduki says some drivers may do that, but others give her “dirty looks” and continue on their way.
“They don’t stop,” she said.
“It feels dangerous.”
Transportation planners hope a new provincial law will change that behaviour, and make pedestrians feel more comfortable in roundabouts.
The law forces drivers to stop for pedestrians at what are called pedestrian crossovers – and allows for every crosswalk at a roundabout to be turned into a crossover.
The region will spend $250,000 to do just that, painting new markings on the pavement to indicate where drivers should stop, and installing new, larger signs reinforcing the rule.
“It’s been something … that we’ve been pushing for for many years now,” said Bob Henderson, the region’s manager of transportation engineering.
Not all of the $250,000 will be spent on signs and paint. Some will also to go advertising and public education.
Starting next year, pedestrian crossovers could be installed on what Henderson termed “low-speed, low-volume” roadways around the region.
Drivers who don’t stop for pedestrians at crossovers could face fines of $500.
