By Lyonel Doherty
One member of the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Committee believes Oliver needs a traffic control upgrade.
Michael Guthrie brought forth a motion on Tuesday during a committee meeting in council chambers.
Part of the motion was to implement four-way stop signs at the intersection of Fairview Road and Station Street. The other part is reducing the speed limit to 30 km/h on Fairview Road from Spartan Street to the intersection of McKinney Road and east to Tucelnuit Drive.
Guthrie said it’s common knowledge that these areas have become problematic with respect to the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.
Guthrie pointed to a number of instances of unsafe behaviour by vehicle operators navigating the Station Street/Fairview Road intersection.
He cited many “near misses” between pedestrians and vehicles at this location.
He also noted many anecdotes of motorists exceeding speed limits in town.
As a member of Oliver Speed Watch, Guthrie said he can attest to the speed of some of these vehicles, which is “simply alarming.” He noted some vehicles have been observed travelling more than 100 km/h.
After some discussion, the committee recommended that the Town engage in a traffic engineer to evaluate speed zones on Fairview Road (at Okanagan) to McKinney Road. It also recommended that a workshop be held prior to the study to discuss options.
