Residents call for increased safety measures after multi-vehicle crash on Speedvale Avenue in Guelph
A woman involved in a car crash in Guelph last week is raising safety concerns about a stretch of Speedvale Avenue. The multi-vehicle collision at the corner of Speedvale Avenue and Metcalfe Street left her car considered a total write-off.
Brittany Howlett was picking up her son on Feb. 16 around 4:30 p.m. when it happened. The crash was captured on a home surveillance camera.
“It wasn’t enough time to honk or swerve or anything,” said Howlett. “It was really sudden.”
Howett said the road is long and straight without a lot of controlled intersections and needs some type of traffic calming measure to slow down drivers.
“People kind of just fly through, and it’s very tight and uncomfortable to drive on,” she said.
The footage shows Howlett’s car coming to a stop, then being hit first from the front and then from behind.
“The front airbag hit my nose. I have a nice little bruise here still, so my nose was bleeding. I have whiplash, but otherwise, I was really lucky,” Howlett said.
Guelph police said one person was taken to hospital with an arm injury, and a 36-year-old Rockwood man was charged with careless driving.
It was not immediately clear if speed was a possible factor.
RESIDENT EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT SPEEDING
Howlett is not the only one calling for more safety measures to be implemented in the area.
Natalie Gohl said she has lived near the intersection for the last 15 years and has seen plenty of accidents in that time.
“Often cars going too quickly or trying to turn, we’ve often asked about stop signs or lights or something, but it hasn’t happened yet,” Gohl said.
“We’ve easily seen people flying at least 80 [km/h], going down 90 [km/h] probably in the middle of the night. We can hear them,” she added.
Gohl raised concerns about the number of schools in the area and the mass amount of students who are crossing the roads in the mornings and afternoons.
“I walk my own kids to school,” she said. “It gets busy. I won’t let them cross anywhere near here.”
She added that the traffic lights residents want to be installed are not just for driver safety but for the safety of pedestrians.
CITY TO REVIEW ROADWAY
Officials with the City of Guelph said there will be a review of Speedvale Avenue, but said they need more information first.
“The city will definitely review Speedvale within the area,” said Paul Hutchison, traffic engineering supervisor with the City of Guelph. “We are still awaiting the collision report, so once we know more about what happened and what led to the collision, then we would be able to review it appropriately.”
Hutchison said Speedvale Avenue is an arterial roadway and that means the city typically would not implement a traffic calming measure.
Arterial roadways are used to move higher-density traffic through the city.
“We don’t implement traffic calming measures on arterial roadways, however, we can look at it under our community road safety, and things like speed radar boards can be implemented,” he said
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump returns to his campaign facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order
Donald Trump on Wednesday will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order.
Ontario woman surprised after 20-year-old fines suddenly tank credit score
An Ontario woman says that she was shocked when fines from 20 years ago suddenly tanked her credit score last week, but the situation may not be as unusual as it seems, according to at least one debt expert.
Anger can harm your blood vessel function, study shows
Stress and anger can have a negative impact on cardiovascular health, studies have shown. New research points to just how the mechanism may work.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Swarm of bees delays Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles game in Arizona. An 'MVP' beekeeper came to the rescue
Major League Baseball fans had an unexpected buzz on Tuesday after a swarm of bees delayed the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game for around two hours.
Newfoundland fisherman says police broke his leg during protest that delayed budget
Richard Martin is spending this year's fishing season on land after he says a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer broke his left leg in three places during a protest last month that shut down the provincial legislature.
A 98-year-old in Ukraine walked miles to safety from Russians, with slippers and a cane
A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10 kilometres (six miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane has been reunited with her family days after they were separated while fleeing to safety.
It's opening day for the $34B Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion
Wednesday marks the official start date of the long-awaited $34-billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.
Will an 'out of sight, out of mind' cellphone policy make a difference in Ontario schools?
Ontario’s cellphone ban in schools has been met with mixed reaction, with some teachers concerned about constant policing of kids and experts applauding the change as necessary for student learning.