Carbonear councillors raise speeding concerns

By Olivia Bradbury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Carbonear council is looking for ways to curb speeding to protect pedestrians, especially children.

At last month’s public meeting, councillor Wendy Penney said the Town had received correspondence from residents concerned about speeding on Valley Road. The road is known for ATVs and will probably see more of them as the weather improves. Penney asked whether there has been any resolution to it.

Mayor Sam Slade replied none had been reached yet but suggested extending the school zone in that area may cut down on speeding.

“You’ve got the elementary school, you’ve got the recreation park, you’ve got the high school, and plus you’ve got a bus turnaround in there almost to the end of the pavement,” said Slade.

He allowed staff could erect signage to indicate the extended school zone and lower speed limits.

Penney said speeding is also a problem on High Road South, and that a daycare there has contacted the town with concerns.

“I think we were discussing putting some lights there, or putting the lights back that were there,” said Penney.

Councillor Steven Penney, a member of the town’s public works committee, said a budget is in place for the work on High Road South. “I’ll take that back to the committee and see if we can get that started,” he added.

“Thank you,” replied councillor Wendy Penney. “Because it’s bad over there with kids being dropped off and I think it needs to be on the top of our list for sure. Plus, there’s many speeding roads in our town. We’ve got many complaints, but we have to look at the sections that are close to schools or daycares because it’s a very high safety issue,” she said.

Mayor Slade noted people have been hit by vehicles on High Road South, and the Town had previously placed a flashing light there.

“I don’t know why it would have ever got taken out of it, but it did,” he said. “So you’re not doing anything brand new there. The light should go back there and we’ll deal with it from there.”