A little over a week ago, 20-year-old Mike Mclean was the passenger in a car travelling north on St. Albert Trail. As it drove through the intersection, it collided with an SUV making a left turn onto Hebert Road. The impact sent the car into a nearby lamppost where Mclean took his last breath.
While family and friends mourn their loss, other residents – complete strangers to the victim – are responding to the death by pushing for increased safety at the site of the collision and several other junctions along the city’s main artery.
City representatives vow that safety on local roadways is of the utmost importance. They say St. Albert Trail is, in fact, quite safe considering roughly 60,000 commuters burn rubber on that road each day.
The number of severe collisions may not be astronomically high, but regular commuters down St. Albert Trail are well aware of the dangers. Those who have not been involved in a collision on that corridor or don’t know someone who has, can certainly speak to near misses.
Something must change to prevent these near misses from claiming another life. A young man lost his life and one life lost is one too many, especially when improvements can be made.
An improvement, such as implementing a protected left turn at the intersection which would allow drivers to turn left only when given an advance turning signal, has been suggested by many residents as it would help eliminate driver error and prevent motorists from unsafely entering oncoming traffic.
This process would also cause a time delay most noticeable during rush hour and would force the city to reprogram its lights to ensure they operate on the correct sequence. It seems but a small price to pay for increasing safety.
The St. Albert Trail and Hebert Road intersection was the site of 58 injury collisions from 2006 to 2011, which makes it the second-highest priority for the city in terms of safety. St. Albert Trail at Boudreau Road took top spot with 61 collisions in the same timeframe. Although St. Albert Trail might be considered safe, it’s hard to ignore that seven of the city’s top 10 most dangerous intersections are situated along this route.
Although the city can help mitigate the risks at unsafe intersections, it cannot bear the sole responsibility for collisions caused by driver error.
Motorists have a responsibility to focus on the road and evaluate traffic before stepping on the gas and entering an intersection in an effort to shave a few minutes off their commute. Failing to exercise due caution demonstrates a lack of value for one’s own life, the lives of their passengers and the lives of other motorists.
Accidents happen, and they’ll continue to happen. But it’s incumbent on the city to do what it can to mitigate danger. More responsibility on the part of motorists, coupled with city action, is the prescription needed to remedy needless fatalities on local roadways.
