An Oakmont resident is voicing concerns about speeding along Bellerose Drive.
“You can clearly hear where they’re picking up speed,” said Shane Presiznuik, who is spearheading efforts by his neighbourhood to draw attention to the issue. Presiznuik’s home backs onto Bellerose Drive close to the city limits.
“It’s a matter of time before there’s a collision … where there’s a fatality,” he said. Crossing Bellerose Drive from Oak Vista Drive and Erin Ridge Drive can be a nervous activity because vehicles start speeding up in anticipation of the higher speed zone outside of the city’s border or fail to slow down as they enter city limits, he said.
Presiznuik started trying to draw RCMP and city enforcement attention to the issue last summer along with some neighbours. This year, after waiting to see if the speeding settled down or more enforcement occurred, they’re back to trying to flag officials to their concerns, including approaching the mayor.
“We’re not complaining about the noise, we’re complaining of the speed,” Presiznuik said while giving a short tour of the problem area.
He said he’s spoken to residents of the Brickyard and Erin Ridge developments who share similar concerns to his neighbours in Oakmont. With Oakmont Park on the corner, school buses picking children up and residents using crosswalks, Presiznuik said there is a strong worry someone is going to be hit. He estimates he’s seen vehicles travelling at up to 80 km/h in the 50 km/h zone.
So he’s looking to the city and the RCMP to offer more enforcement in the area, as well as consider some other solutions.
“We want to create a petition to have the mayor look into speed lights or speed bumps,” he said. He mentioned Edmonton has had some success with lowering speed limits as well and suggested that could be considered.
Enforcement needs to be more than just photo radar, he said. He’d like to see officers pulling over drivers so not only are they getting a fine, but demerits too.
“We want the RCMP or enforcement services to take a proactive approach,” Presiznuik said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said he’s asked city staff to look at the data for the area and see if it’s getting its fair share of surveillance.
“It might be a location that’s gotten less attention because of the development,” Crouse said.
If it turns out it’s not getting its share of attention from municipal enforcement tactics like photo radar, that would be addressed, Crouse said.
“We do rely on these kinds of complaints,” he said. Traffic patterns are constantly shifting, he said, so complaints let the city know where there might be a problem.
Crouse said he does recall hearing complaints about speeding in the area a few years ago.
As for Presiznuik’s potential petition, Crouse said “speed bumps are generally not the solution” to speed problems. The need for traffic lights is determined by warrant studies, Crouse said. David Hales, general manager of the city’s planning and engineering division, confirmed by email that Bellerose Drive at the Erin Ridge Drive/Oak Vista Drive intersection is scheduled to be analyzed in September as part of the annual analysis program.
RCMP Cpl. Don Murray, a traffic specialist at the St. Albert detachment, said enforcement is done along Bellerose Drive.
“Speeding on any street in St. Albert is an issue for us. Speed enforcement on Bellerose Drive is done on a regular basis at various locations on the roadway,” Murray said.
While the intersection in question hasn’t been flagged for them as a problem location, Murray said the RCMP traffic officers and the municipal enforcement officers do try and respond to public complaints to the best of their ability.
“It’s a real balancing act for us to target problem locations and to respond to complaints from the public regarding a traffic issue on their particular street,” he said.
While there’s not a set schedule so he couldn’t comment on the exact frequency of speed enforcement along Bellerose, Murray said by speaking to his traffic officers he knows the drive is monitored on a regular basis, probably several times a week.
“Sometimes we do it overtly in a marked police car, other times it will not be so obvious,” he said. “I assure you we are doing enforcement along that drive.”
