Walking in Waterloo Region

[plam]

When I first learned that she had died, I assumed that the motorist must have been driving well in excess of the speed limit- 60, 70 kilometres. But it's possible that he was traveling slower than that. It seems extremely unlikely that he was driving the posted speed limit, which is 40km/h.

It's an understatement to say that it's easy to drive at 70km/h on Weber. But it's a great case to bring up- Central Street has a boulevard and even street trees. On Weber, where traffic often does travel at 70 or 80km/h, the sidewalk directly abuts the street in many places. If a car leaves the road and a human being is in the way, there's little chance for that human being.

This could have been a medical emergency but, like you say jamincan, likely not. It happens all the time, unfortunately. Usually, no one happens to be in the way. Sometimes they will be. Just last Friday afternoon, an SUV crashed into a hydro pole on Weber Street North in Waterloo. No one notices since no one was killed, that time.

Yeah. I'd think that 50 was likely, 60 possible. But we don't have those facts.

At least for Weber it is fairly easy to bypass these days in Waterloo due to the Spur Line. Sometimes I still bike on Weber because it's faster. I may reconsider that now. The Spur Line experience is just better, except at Union. And yes, getting hit at 80 is not going to end well.

Probably additional street narrowing for Central would be in order. There are often many school buses, and they do need to get through. Speed bumps are probably not the answer. Hamilton has been installing some street narrowing curbs at intersections for that reason.