BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter from Doug Varty is concerning speeds of aggregate haulers on some roads in the Oro-Medonte area.
*************************
Have you ever driven down Old Barrie Road and watched an oncoming aggregate hauler cross the centre line into your lane and have to move toward or onto the shoulder to reduce the risk of collision?
Do you, your children or your neighbours walk, cycle or otherwise use a local road that is a designated as a haul route and experience a fully loaded aggregate hauler with its 30,000-, 50,000-, or 60,000-pound load coming downhill whiz past you at 60 kilometres per hour, the posted speed limit or faster?
Can you recall what it looks like when a hauler and an automobile collide? Imagine what your chances of survival are in a hauler/pedestrian or cyclist collision.
A number of my neighbours in Oro-Medonte and I are concerned about road safety in light or an increasing volume of aggregate truck traffic and the use of larger and longer haulers on our local roads.
Our local councillor and township staff have advised that they have no control over the size of haulers using township roads. What the township does control is the speed limit on these roads and the enforcement of these limits.
My neighbours and I have repeatedly requested a reduction of the speed limit on Line 9 to 50 km/h and have been advised the township has completed a comprehensive review and the existing 60 km/h speed limit is within “guidelines” (in Oro-Medonte parts of Lines 1, 7, 9, 10 and 13 are designated haul routes) and the speed limit will not be reduced.
I think it is time common sense prevails over general “guidelines” that don’t seem consider aggregate hauling on narrow, limited shoulder local roads used increasingly by pedestrian/cyclist traffic. We believe a lower speed limit is appropriate on haul routes that pass through residential areas or where
there is significant non-vehicular use.
I am most familiar with the situation on Line 9, but I am sure there is similar basis for reducing speed on other haul routes in Oro-Medonte.
- Haulers coming from the pits on Line 9 are travelling downhill towards Old Barrie Road, past the Simcoe Forest Breedon Tract – a well used recreational property. The small Breedon parking lot is often full and vehicles using the tract park on the side of Line 9. On this downhill trip these aggregate trucks pick up speed and significant momentum.
- Residents/families living in Sherwood and Sprucewood developments and others users regularly walk on this section of 9 th (it is also part of the Ganaraska trail).
- The roads are narrow and we contend were not designed for the size of aggregate haulers currently being used, in spite of recent improvements
- The Township (and Province) are encouraging growth and urbanization of Oro-Medonte and with urbanization - speed limits and other rules/regulations need to be re-evaluated in light of increasing non vehicular use of our roads.
- The Township has recognized the unique characteristics of Line 8 and 10 and has reduced the speed to below 60 km/hour but fails to recognize the unique circumstances of haul routes and the life-threatening risks oversized trucks on these roads present.
- In a resolution from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police to the Province relating to truck speed the Chiefs make some key points regarding truck speed
- “Public safety is paramount, thus slower speeds for commercial vehicles would decrease the severity of collisions thus reducing the potential for serious injury or death.”
- “Roadways, considered rural roads, with a posted speed limit of 60km/hr or more accounted for 78 percent of all fatal collisions involving heavy trucks.”
- “There is considerable difference in stopping distances between a passenger vehicle versus a 4-axle commercial vehicle; dump truck**. It is estimated that the CMV takes approximately twice as long to stop as the passenger vehicle when travelling at the same speed - 60 km/hr the passenger vehicle stops in 30 metres while the dump truck stops in 58 metres”
- Above refers to conventional dump trucks not the huge extended aggregate haulers using the 9th
So, I think it is time for township staff and council to stop hiding behind “guidelines” and “science” that does not consider heavy truck traffic through residential neighbourhoods.
It is time to apply common sense to this potentially deadly situation and reduce the speed limit on all haul routes in the township to 50 km/hour (or lower). This speed limit reduction should be combined with increased monitoring and enforcement, which the township says it has initiated.
Having said this my neighbours and I have never seen an OPP speed enforcement vehicle on this section of Line 9. Morning, between 7 to 9 a.m. would be an ideal time as this is often the greatest time for truck traffic.
This letter was written in context of our specific situation on Line 9, but could just as easily been about excess speed situations in the areas where you reside like Horseshoe Valley, Edgar, Moonstone, Oro Station, etc.
As we head into a municipal election this fall (October) ask your local candidates where they stand on this issue!
Let’s put public safety first!
Doug Varty
Oro-Medonte
*************************
