OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via our website. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is in response to recent story about the city's plan to investigate a new four-way stop at the corner of Mary and Douglas streets.
I write in support of the request for a four-way stop at the corners of Mary and Douglas Streets. My thanks to Coun. Leatherdale and Cipolla, our west ward councillors, for their efforts on our behalf.
As a resident, I have seen since 2021 an increase in cars speeding to get to Westmount or downtown. Unacceptable.
There are young families on our street; we have kids walking to and from the school at Lions Oval and Harriett Todd.
The thought of even one child injured, or worse, by a speeding vehicle unable to stop in time is upsetting in the extreme. It only takes a second for an errant child to run into traffic, whether following a ball, a pet, or being chased.
This section of the street is overflow parking for the hospital which narrows the available traffic space. Add delivery vans stopping across the street and the road narrows further. Come winter and snowbanks, a width that can handle three vehicles becomes narrower still.
I have myself witnessed cars driving through the stops at Douglas, McKenzie, and on Mary. An accident is only a matter of time.
Finally, to the point raised about pollution as a vehicle stops momentarily. Speeding causes an increase in both air and noise pollutants.
Thank you,
Mike Fox
Orillia
