Time To Slow Down
Vancouver Avenue
Way back this year we started our neighbourhood plan for Newcastle. Much great information has been collected by neighbours about likes, dislikes and wishes to make our neighbourhood a safe place to live. The one common theme through all this is vehicles speeding in our neighbourhood. Surely we do not have to wait for the completion of this plan before something is done. Time for the buses, cars and bulk fuel trucks to slow down. Trucks use their j-brakes in our area even though it is illegal. Buses speed up the four blocks on Vancouver Ave. to turn left onto Townsite. Two e-mails of complaint to Regional Transit has only made a small dent in the speeding. The buses cannot be behind schedule at this part of the route and if they are, make some changes! So City Hall and R.C.M.P. it is time to start doing something about this situation. As an avid walker for the last five years I see so many things that I would not see if I was driving. Time to start protecting the rights of the walking public!
Just Walking Around
It’s unlikely that motorists will slow down unless there’s something physical there to encourage them. The R.C.M.P. probably isn’t going to want to spend time controlling speeding vehicles on Vancouver Avenue but a speed bump (or “sleeping policeman”) would. The city should have a plan to install speed bumps on residential streets like Vancouver Avenue throughout Nanaimo to encourage impatient motorists to use faster routes like Stewart Avenue and Terminal instead. This is only a problem at the south end of Vancouver Avenue as stop signs slow the cars down north of Townsite.