Jude Strickland’s death spurs Hamilton to study safety changes on Upper Gage
The death of Jude Strickland has spurred the city to study possible safety changes - everything from photo radar to redesigned traffic lanes - near the intersection on Upper Gage Avenue where the 11-year-old was struck and killed.
The safety audit pitched by ward councillor Tom Jackson comes as a growing number of residents back a community petition calling for an enforced slowdown of vehicle traffic on busy east Mountain arteries.
Jackson said the tragedy is fresh and raw" in the minds of residents in the Templemead and Eleanor neighbourhoods.
They are in mourning, but they're also mobilizing," said the Mountain councillor, who earned committee support this week for a safety audit that will examine possibilities like cutting the maximum speed, changing lane configurations or adding photo radar along the stretch of Upper Gage between Stone Church Road and Rymal Road.
The study will also look at whether a red-light camera is appropriate at the intersection of Royal Vista Drive. Jude was killed walking across the intersection with a crossing guard when a truck allegedly drove through a red light.
Family members have implored drivers to slow down. Don't be in a hurry, stop at stop signs and red lights. Don't try and just beat the yellow because there are real ramifications," wrote Jude's aunt and uncle, Erin Strickland and Ryan Butchereit, on Twitter.
Forcing motorists to slow down along the 50 km/h stretch of Upper Gage would help, said Templemead resident Timothy Taylor. But he argued such changes are also needed elsewhere before more preventable" tragedies occur.
Taylor and his fiancee, Tiffany Bound-Koocher, are distributing a petition in east Mountain neighbourhoods calling for reduced maximum speeds and road design improvements on both Upper Gage and Upper Ottawa.
They are focused on those arteries because both have 50 km/h sections where schoolchildren cross daily. Despite heightened public awareness, The Spectator watched a driver zoom through a red light at Royal Vista on Thursday.
On Upper Gage, Taylor would also like to see flashing school-zone lights, as well as design changes to prevent cars jockeying for position where the road narrows to fewer lanes south of Stone Church.
Taylor also used to live near Upper Ottawa and said he would regularly watch cars blow past" a crossing guard tasked with escorting kids across an intersection on the way to Huntington Park school.
There have been four deaths from traffic collisions in Hamilton involving pedestrians in 2020 so far, down from nine last year but on par with the numbers in 2018 (five) and 2017 (four).
The city committed to a Vision Zero philosophy last year that aims to end all traffic fatalities and serious injuries. As part of that effort, Hamilton recently cut default speeds on all residential streets to 40 km/h and has begun spending more on traffic-calming measures like speed humps and bump-outs.
A photo radar experiment is also cycling through 18 street locations across Hamilton.
But some advocates argue the city's own guidelines prevent many traffic calming measures on arterial roads, effectively placing a higher value on efficient vehicle movement than on safety.
Taylor hopes to bring a petition with more than 150 names to council in January. To see the details online, visit his Facebook page.
Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com