Residents ask for bumps in the road

BY MIKE WYMAN

It took just over 20 minutes for the Kirkland Town Council to dispense with the agenda that preceded the public question period on Monday evening. Queries came about a rezoning decision and changes in the public works department, but most of the concerns dealt with dangerous drivers.

Carol Ann Turpin-Gallo, who lives on Beacon Road near Terra Nova Street, a half-kilometre from Montreal police Station 1, requested that speed bumps be installed along her street since the present stop signs are often ignored.

“We’ve clocked a few of them at 70,” she said after the meeting. “They go through the stops and don’t care if there are kids in the street or not. I go for a walk every evening with my daughter or my husband. We very rarely see Kirkland security and we never see the police.

“It’s not only the young guys and girls. A lot of the times it’s older people. They’re talking on their cellphones and they just go right through.”

Susan Cyr, who made a similar request, lives on Curé Trottier and describes the speeders on her

500-metre long street in motor sport terms: “They come around the hairpin and they go up the hill.”

Cyr and the other mothers assume a defensive posture every morning, standing in the middle of the road so their children can stand safely on the side while waiting for their bus. There have been a few near misses.

“A lady this morning took two car lengths to stop. She was going so fast we could smell the rubber on her tires burning,” said Cyr, who has seen drivers pass stopped school busses in their haste.

“I wish I had a magic solution,” Mayor John Meaney told The Chronicle after the meeting adjourned.

He said that while he sympathizes with the concerns expressed, much of the blame for the situation lies close to home.

“When we check the addresses on the tickets, it turns out about 80 per cent of them are local residents. We’ve even had people who got tickets come here and complain about the traffic on their street.”