Everything considered, getting our children to school safely should be one of this community’s biggest priorities. A few weeks ago Squamish resident Lori Grant contacted the District about the potential traffic hazards around Garibaldi Highlands Elementary before and after classes. Her assessment triggered an avalanche of comments about the problem on social media and more recently an article in The Chief by Haley Ritchie.
In the emerging narrative, it appears the roads in the vicinity of local schools have become a free-for-all during drop-off and pick-up times, with kids dodging traffic and vehicles jostling for position in no parking zones. One particularly challenging area is Buckley Road adjacent to Squamish Elementary and Howe Sound Secondary. Since there is no sidewalk on the east side of that thoroughfare the bike lane has become a walkway and is used by parents in vehicles picking up or dropping off students. To compound the problem, last winter pedestrians were forced to walk on the road because the sidewalk on the west side was snow covered for months.
Over at Valleycliffe Elementary, parents stop in the bike lane to drop students off, despite signage prohibiting the practice. In Brackendale, students who walk along the shoulder of Government or Depot roads have to navigate around parked cars in heavy traffic. Mamquam Elementary has similar problems. One parent called the area in front of the school “hugely dangerous.”
So where do we go from here? Squamish resident Margo Dent, who is a conflict resolution facilitator and a special care foster parent, is convinced too many people have “a complete disregard” for signage. Dent says, “If you have stopped in a signed zone, a yellow zone, a bike lane, a handicap spot, even if just for a minute to drop off Jr, then you are guilty of being part of the problem. We can all do better.”
A number of parents are convinced the District’s safe routes recommendations have done little to alleviate the problem. According to Heather Danroth Kawaguchi, all her neighbourhood got from the program was a map showing where to walk along the busiest roads.
But “most of the suggested routes don’t have sidewalks,” she said.
More than a year ago Gary Buxton, general manager of development services and public works, warned council that road safety needs to be addressed, given the burgeoning school-age population throughout Squamish. And with rapid growth and higher density, the traffic problem will only get worse. Council recently referred the issue of traffic safety to a committee for discussion at a later date. How long that process will take is anybody’s guess.
Coun. Peter Kent reports “there are also recommendations involving infrastructure (lights/crosswalks etc.) that will be addressed in our budget deliberations for 2018.” In the meantime, what we have is the status quo, until a serious accident accelerates the remediation agenda.
