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City staff have discussed in detail the issue of safer driving on West Perth’s increasingly dangerous roads, a discussion that was briefly discussed at a city council meeting on September 3.

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Deputy Mayor Dean Trentowsky made a motion to “further investigate the matter and report back to council on the development of a strategy to adopt traffic calming and safety measures on Routes 32, 36, 39 and 42… and mitigate the risk to the public, particularly residents living along these roads and users in general.”

But before the application was officially submitted, Mayor Walter McKenzie asked for the wording to be changed to include all roads in the entire borough, saying he lives on busy Route 28 in Hibbert County.

“I think we should look at all the roads and create a broader plan and then see what we can come up with,” the mayor said.

Trentowsky, a resident of Logan Ward in the northern part of the borough, said he has received numerous comments from concerned ratepayers in recent months about local traffic, including “the type of traffic, the volume, the speed and the inappropriate behavior of drivers and the increased safety risks associated with that.”

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“As more and more people come here, the traffic situation is getting worse,” he said. “We get overflow from Highway 8 on our concession roads.”

Route 39, he noted, is almost a direct line for people coming from Waterloo Region to Huron County. He said he recently drove down that road near his home and within 15 minutes, six cars were behind him, most of them from out of town, judging by their license plates.

Drivers coming from other cities, using modern GPS technology, are finding ways to bypass Highway 8 and travel on parallel roads running east and west, which they believe provide an easier and faster way to their destination, usually Lake Huron to the west.

Trentowsky said the answer may be additional stop signs or trimming large trees to improve visibility. Other options the deputy mayor mentioned included painting yellow lines in the middle of the road and widening the shoulders to try to slow drivers on roads that weren’t built to handle that much traffic.

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“This will require engagement not only with West Perth staff but also with police and fire services in neighbouring jurisdictions,” he said.

The motion was adopted unanimously and a report with suggestions will be forwarded to the council.

Another rare — and somewhat related — motion was from Councilman Ryan Duck asking staff to contact the Ministry of Transportation to review safety measures on the roadside boulevard on the east end of Mitchell at Highway 8.

Duck noted there is a safety hazard from tractor-trailers parked on the paved shoulder of the highway, making it difficult for drivers to exit the parking lot and return to the highway.

“I would like to see some action taken in some areas to deter drivers from parking there and direct them to the proper truck parking area” behind the McDonald’s restaurant and gas station convenience store, he said.

Secretary and interim co-chief executive Dan Hobson said he had a meeting scheduled with the ministry on another matter and would mention the concerns at that time.

“That whole area is a bit of a challenge,” McKenzie added, referring to the eastern end of Mitchell.

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