A troublesome intersection is getting a closer look thanks to a resident who spoke up

Concerns were raised by a Whitecourt resident back on March 9, 2020, about safety issues at the intersection of 55th Avenue and 47th Street. In 2013, an accident caused a vehicle to pass over the sidewalk and hit the front of the resident’s home following a T-bone in the intersection. The resident, Mike Bauer, expressed his concerns and did a presentation for Council because he felt the intersection was unsafe due to the speed of traffic travelling on 47th Street. The Bauer Family sent a letter to Council, which showed a newspaper clipping from the 2013 accident, with a picture of the vehicle that hit their home. The letter also mentioned that the painted pedestrian walk-way lines do not stay visible long enough.

Following the March presentation, Council asked administration to research the intersection and report back on all accidents that have taken place since 2013. The intersection in question is an offset intersection. Traffic travelling north and south on 47th Street have the right of way, whereas those travelling east and west on 55th Avenue have stop signs. Since 2013, there have been 11 accidents recorded there, including two T-bones and a sideswipe. Four accidents involved someone being read-ended, two were hit-and-runs, and a further two occurred due to someone making a left turn across the path of oncoming traffic.

At the May 19, 2020, Policies and Priorities meeting, administration provided the committee, which is made up of council members, with data compiled since March. Administration said that it is not clear if the accidents were speed-related as the information they had from the RCMP does not indicate such specifics. Councillor Hilts questioned why that information was not available. “It certainly looks troubling to have vehicles in your front yard from traffic accidents. I want to acknowledge the resident’s concerns about property and their safety. Would the RCMP not have a little more comprehensive information on the nature of these accidents, specifically if they were related to speed or to liability or injury or anything like that? The reason I say that is because it is tough to decide on what the nature of the issue is if we don’t have the cause and effect on these accidents.”

Chief Administrative Officer Peter Smyl explained that the information they were providing Council was from their in-house database. Each year the RCMP provides reports on accidents that took place in the community during the previous year. Smyl said that the information lists accidents without giving specifics on each one. “Based on that information, we red flag it to say, let’s dive into this and see what the details are. Is it dealing with speed, or is it dealing with an unclear vision from the intersections? The RCMP has that information; we just don’t have that at the office.”

He said that was the reason they decided to bring the information they had to Council so they could ask for permission to go forward and do a full review on the intersection. “We want to spend some time there and find the causes of these accidents and make recommendations.” Smyl added that they would also be able to use traffic counts from the review so they can learn about the traffic patterns in that area. “Based on traffic flows, the intersection might require additional treatments due to the traffic patterns increasing. Instead of just jumping to a conclusion, we want to dig into it a bit more and find out the results.”

Councillor Hilts then mentioned that sightline could also be playing a role. “If you are coming east to west entering the intersection, when you look south at Spanish Villa, typically there’s quite a lot of cars parked which does obscure your viewpoint to the south. That may or may not have anything to do with these impacts, and maybe it is speed related, but I’m just saying that it might not be just speed-related.” With a full understanding of what administration was asking for, Councillor Hilts gave it a thumbs up. “I fully support administration doing some more homework on this to try and solve the cause and effect and then provide Council with recommendations on ways that we can deal with it.”

All members unanimously passed the motion that followed. Administration will now do a formal review on the intersection and process the areas of concern. The review will include a proper traffic count this fall once traffic picks up to a more normal amount. Once the review is complete, administration will tabulate it all and provide Council with a full scope of the issues. From there, Council will decide what steps are needed to deal with the intersection.