FALL RIVER: After a pair of close calls at the crosswalk at Highway 2 and Coach Avenue (Schwarzwald Subdivision entrance), Jim Walsh is hopeful something will be done sooner rather than later.
Walsh was on his scooter crossing using the crosswalk to Fletcher Drive when a car zoomed right by him and never stopped as he crossed. This happened while traffic coming on the other side of the road did stop to allow him to cross. The car that zoomed past him he estimates was not doing the 60 km/hr speed limit for this stretch of road.
“I’m worried about the kids coming down here, and they cross here to go swim down at the canal,” said Walsh. “I see them cross here but cars don’t stop. The cars just roar right through.”
He said people think that because it’s Highway 2 they don’t have to stop. That’s not correct.
For himself, he goes down to Tim Hortons every morning to have coffee with his friends. He takes Fletcher Drive to get away from the traffic, so he crosses there.
“There’s been a couple times I’ve had a near miss from vehicles that don’t want to stop or if they see you they pile on the brakes,” said Walsh. “One of these days it’s going to be too late. They’re not going to be able to stop.
“That’s my fear.”
He isn’t the only one who has had close calls. According to social media posts, there are near misses at the crosswalk almost daily as no one slows to the speed limit or for the crosswalk.
In a previous interview, councillor Steve Streatch said the installation of a crosswalk light would take place, but the timeline for that was unknown.
“The installation will occur sometime between the spring and fall,” he said.
Streatch said the next step is to have it lit.
“There are several standards that exist, there are overhead lights and a new standard introduced in Dartmouth – a beacon light,” he said. “Whatever ends up here, I know will fit the needs of the community.”
