For the past several days, Stanley Pollard has sat near the intersection of Kathleen Street and Speedvale Avenue West pointing a radar gun he purchased at Costco at passing traffic.
“I caught a car doing 108 km/h on Monday,” says Pollard, referring to the fastest he has clocked a car going on the busy four-lane stretch of road where the speed limit is 50 km/h. “He was trying to beat the red light.”
An hour spent with Pollard shows almost every car travels over 50 km/h, many 15 to 20 kilometres over the speed limit. Some more.
“People try to beat the red light all the time. They just floor it,” Pollard says.
“People around here are going crazy. We all want something done about it.”
Last summer local resident Len Humphries, 77, was hit and killed by a car as he was crossing at the intersection.
Last week a man was charged with dangerous driving after he lost control of his pickup truck and slammed into a hydro pole just east of the intersection, splitting the pole in half.
Pollard, who lives nearby, is one of many area residents frustrated with how dangerous the Kathleen/Speedvale intersection is.
Several ingredients contribute to the dangerousness of the location: there’s a steep hill, drivers often try to beat the light turning red, Kathleen shifts as it crosses Speedvale.
The fact that there are several large apartments, many seniors and a school children cross the road to get to add to the mix.
“I myself have had three near misses on the crosswalk and one that grazed my leg as I jumped out of the way,” says Tom Thompson.
“Last week it looked like a speedway. I counted 10 cars going through the solid red light.”
Thompson said there are blind spots at the crosswalk as bushes and sign posts can make it difficult for drivers turning to see pedestrians.
“I’ve lived here eight years and every day i’m nervous crossing that street. Something has to be done,” Thompson said.
Another man who lives in the nearby Twin Towers said his wife will take back streets once she gets close to home rather than turn left off Speedvale onto Kathleen because it’s so dangerous.
Justin Staines said he has called 911 22 times since moving into the area a few years ago.
"There's been a lot of accidents and a lot of near misses," Staines said.
Ward 3 councillor Phil Allt said he’s had a lot of people contact him about that corner and he has shared their concerns with city staff.
“That bloody hill,” said Allt of the section of eastbound Speedvale Avenue. “It’s a terrible intersection and it always has been.
“There is a solution that needs to be found for it,” Allt said.
Allister McILveen, the city’s manager of transportation services, said there are currently no plans for major changes to the intersection, but that staff have and will look at ways of possibly making it safer.
“Traffic investigation staff have looked at this intersection previously and will reassess the existing signing, pavement markings etcetera to see if there is any potential to revise or change for improvement,” McILveen said.
A red light camera is another possibility as the city looks into installing those at some city intersections in the future.
As for Pollard, he’ll continue to sit and take videos on his phone of cars speeding on that stretch of road in the hopes that eventually something will be done to slow traffic down.
“The whole section of street is made for racing,” he says as another car zooms by, this one clocking 71 km/h on his radar gun.
