Chris Wygergangs and her neighbourare worried speeders are going to hurt someone on Shiloh Line near AW Campbell Park.
Wygergangs and live near the entrance to the park and in the last four or five years, a select number of cars are hitting some high speeds as they head toward Alvinston.
Wygergangs says they come “from the direction of the park, coming around the curve, and then as soon as they get to the flat, they’re stepping on it.”
She says the activity seems to increase when the park opens and the neighbours have been calling on the OPP to enforce the current speed limit for “three or four years.”
Wygergangs says the police have set up speed traps in the area, but not in the time the racing takes place. And then, she says, they tell the neighbours they have to take action to catch the people involved.
“They say, ‘well, we need a description of the driver, we need license plate number.’ And then it becomes if we can catch them we’ll do something about it.”
Wygergangs says she and the neighbours are worried about what could happen particularly this year when people from nearby Alvinston are walking down the road or going for a bike ride to pass the time because so many activities have been cancelled because of the pandemic.
“If somebody’s racing down the road, and there’s a pedestrian or bicyclist or a scooter, they don’t have a chance.”
Recently, Wygergangs and approached council to ask if they would consider lowering the speed limit in the area since it appears the drivers are gearing up to hit the 80 km/h limit which comes into effect just meters from their houses.
“The only answer Matt and I could come up with at that time is, reduce the speed to 50. Even if it’s only during the camping season, reduce it down to 50. But the OPP also have to do their part.”
Brooke-Alvinston Council says it will ask the OPP to more actively patrol the area.
And officials say the road is slated to be rebuilt next year, and that should also slow traffic in the area.
