Concerns are being raised after at least one collision occurred at a west end intersection where traffic signals were removed as part of a study.
City council has already voted in favour of reducing a large portion of Wallace Terrace from three lanes to two — a plan that includes a permanent removal of the four-way traffic signals at the Goulais Avenue intersection.
A temporary traffic study was proposed by Ward 3 councillor Matthew Scott, with the hopes that the results of that study might prompt other members of council to reconsider the decision to make it permanent.
A video camera at the scene captured a collision on the very first day of the traffic study. In the video, the pickup truck is seen leaving the scene immediately after the collision.
SooToday interviewed Pam Senecal shortly after a pickup truck and work van collided at the intersection on Thursday.
Senecal works at Deluca's Pizza and said the corner was already bad for collisions, even before the city took out the traffic signals.
"People speed through here. I've seen people run the light many times and now that they are allowed to run it, it's just going to get worse," said Senecal.
Her biggest concern is for the children who live in the neighbourhood. The intersection formerly had four crosswalks, but during the traffic study, only one crosswalk signal remains for pedestrians to use when crossing the westernmost side of Wallace Terrace.
Senecal said kids in the neighbourhood often cross to buy ice cream or a slice at Deluca's, or to attend Millie's convenience store on the opposite corner. They also cross to go to the pool, park or splash pad.
"I see the confusion even on day one. I know it'll take time to get used to these kind of things, but at the same time we've already had one accident because somebody didn't stop and then they didn't even stay, they ran. So what if that was a person that got hit and they ran?" she added.
Hillary Maxwell is the research coordinator for the Centre for Research on Safe Driving at Lakehead University.
"At the centre, we're basically looking to do any sort of research that supports safe driving," said Maxwell.
Researchers at the centre use both theoretical and practical methods to analyze traffic patterns and driver behaviour.
Maxwell said changes need to be made to improve safety at any intersection, but you won't always know if those changes are effective until you analyze the data.
"In order to improve safety, you have to make a change. But the Catch-22 is that change can come with confusion and with confusion can come collisions. From a municipal standpoint, we know that there is liability from both angles. You want to do that change, but at the same time you don't want to introduce that change," said Maxwell.
Although Maxwell agrees that changes need to be made with hopes of improving traffic safety, she said she is not a fan of temporary traffic studies.
"When it comes to traffic studies, they usually come from the point of view of justifying a decision that's basically already been made. In some places in the [United States] they actually at the same time they do a traffic study, they do what is called the no-change option — that's assessing risk in terms of, 'what if we did nothing?'