Three mornings a week I go to Fountain Park Pool for the 8 a.m. exercise class. I am hoping that the City of St. Albert are going to look into the safety at this amenity site as it is also next door to Paul Kane High School. The amount of traffic at this time of the morning is quite significant. Parents drop off high school students and students drive to school also. Cars can be backed up onto Sir Winston Churchill. Some students walk across Cunningham Road. Also there is the daycare located next to the pool. The access and egress into this area has not been altered for many years.
I find it difficult to understand why high school students in these numbers need to be dropped off at the school by a parent; are there so many of them that cannot reach a school bus? Why do so many of these students need to drive to school every day. Further, if they can afford to drive every day why can so many of them not afford to purchase a parking pass to the Paul Kane parking lot, instead of congesting the pool parking lot – which is not a legal thing to do!
With so many people expressing concern for the environment the amount of pollutants emitted by cars during this time must be quite significant! As we move into the winter months, how many fender benders and near misses will there be? I hope that there will not be a serious accident, but with the way that some drivers speed in and out of the lot plus the frustration factor, I fear this might be a strong possibility.
Elizabeth Allchin, St. Albert
