THE RECORD

March 12, 1997

BACK TO THE EGG

Suzanne Trevis

In January 1970 the Gold River Elementary School began the towns first "School Patrol."

Hats, paddles, raincoats, belts and other equipment for the Patrol was provided by the Kinsmen. Training was done by RCMP Cpl. Costello.

They patrolled the crosswalk on Muchalat Drive across from the Firehall. Every day, before and after school and at lunch, they would keep an eye on the smaller children, showing them where to cross. Then, they would step out and stop the traffic making sure the crossing was safe for their schoolmates.

The "charter members" of this fine outfit were Safety Captain Robert Larsen, Dale Frame, Ellen Cheveldave, Janice Chavarie, Alan Cruikshank, Frances Cartwright, Vince Doyle and Linda Merrill.

I was very excited myself when I first became a member at eleven years old. It was a big honour, and it meant you got out of class 10 minutes early!

Now here we are in the nineties. On a day to day basis Muchalat Drive sees more traffic than at any other time in our past. Much of it is large trucks and most of it is travelling too fast.

We don't have a safety patrol anymore, they haven't had one for as long as I have had children old enough to attend school. And, I am beginning to wonder if the safety of our children is really one of the uppermost thing in our school district's minds.

When they first moved the pods for the old school in the summer of 1995 they asked parents to drop their children off at the clinic entrance. As it became extremely congested in no time many chose to use the school board route. The problem, though, was that the only access to the school from the board office was down a fairly steep gravel bank. Obviously no prior consideration had been given as to how children or parents (not to mention school board personnel) should access the school from this point. It took six weeks and the onset of bad weather before the district had the stairs in place that we use today.

Six months ago the school district approached village council about getting a permit to rent out the old school board building at the clinic entrance. One of the concerns raised at that time was safety for the children travelling this route to school since it would undoubtedly entail more commercial traffic. The school district assured council that this would not be a problem. They were discouraging people from using this route to school and went as far as to ask council to block the emergency access road that comes by the clinic.

Because this route had been opened at the request of a previous board for fire safety, the village conferred with the fire department and discussions with regards to this particular issue are still underway. The school district, however, in typical fashion, does not seem to have any alternate plan in place for the safety of the students.

The Ministry of Highways, now at then end of its budget year, has found some "surplus money" that must be used by the end of March. As a result of pressure from the RCMP and PAC to do something, they have put forward a proposal for the Muchalat Drive/Highway 28 intersection.

This proposal would see an additional island placed opposite the existing one on the corner nearest Payless. There would then be a series of crosswalks going from that corner to the new island then north to the Scout Lake sidewalk or east to the existing island and finally a third segment to the ambulance station. Council approved this move last week, with Councilor Erb being the only member to vote against.

There was concern over the larger trucks ability to make the turn with an additional island in place. We were told by District Highways Manager Mike Proudfoot that it is wide enough for trucks to turn and that the narrower access would force traffic to slow down. When it was pointed out that the road also "tilts" in the wrong direction as you come into the intersection and it was asked if this would also hinder trucks ability to turn properly, he claimed that he was not aware of the problem.

Councilor Erb also asked what would happen if children, having made the first leg of their journey, were standing on the new island when an approaching truck decided he was going too fast to make this new turn safely. There was no comment.

We already have a few brave souls who like to come in via the exit lane when they think no one is looking (some have been stopped).

Most of the traffic concerns have been referred to the RCMP, but this is obviously an ongoing problem that needs to be solved.

To my knowledge no plans are underway to place sidewalks along the highway, lighting is bad, and despite the fact that it is a school zone very few people slow down. Yet, we are encouraging students, some of them as small as five and six, to use this route to cross Muchalat Drive over the obviously safer route next to the Village Office.

Am I missing something? Is it going to take someone's child being run over at this corner or along the adjacent highway before we wake up and decide that maybe this wasn't the "best route to take".