Feature Article June 19, 2002
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeContact Us
A local resident fights for a speed limit reductionby David BrisonJames and Dawn Yateman and their daughter Courtney, age 7, live at the intersection of the Garrison Lake Road and the Elm Tree Road. James believes that the intersection is dangerous and fears that Courtney might be injured. He has launched a one- man campaign to get council to reduce the 80 k speed limit presently in effect..
The Elm Tree Road makes an S-turn at the intersection with the Garrison Lake Road, a dead-end road that provides access to approximately 40 cottages, five of which are occupied year round. Going west on the Elm Tree Road towards the hamlet of Elm Tree, the road makes an almost 90-degree left turn where it meets the Garrison Lake Road. If you were to miss that curve and go straight, you would simply continue on the Garrison Lake Road. The Yateman property adjoins the Garrison Lake Road, and there is a hill ascending right at that point.
Mr. Yateman claims that some of the Garrison Lake residents build up momentum on Elm Tree Road and continue straight up the hill past his house at a dangerous speed. He has reported this to the OPP, who have investigated and talked to some of these residents, but the OPP say that it is difficult to enforce the law without a lower speed limit..
Once past the Garrison Lake Road, the Elm Tree Road makes a 90-degree right turn earning the designation S-turn. Last Christmas, an ambulance heading east from Elm Tree towards Arden failed to make the second curve, ended up on the lower end of the Yateman property and had to be hauled out. Coming the other way from Arden, a car with a trailer missed the curve and ended up on the Garrison Lake Road near the Yatemans yard.
The Yateman solution would be to lower the speed limit on the Elm Tree Road. This would, Yateman says, discourage cars from speeding past his house on the Garrison Lake Road, and would at the same time reduce the possibility of vehicles (going both east and west on the Elm Tree Road) missing the curves.
A number of Garrison Lake residents were interviewed. They seemed to agree that some of their fellow residents are speeding past the Yateman residence the best estimate was that it is two or three vehicles and that it occurs mostly on weekends. The residents also reported that Mr. Yateman tried to stop them as they were driving past his property by stepping out onto the road. He also reportedly followed some of them home to complain about their driving. In the words of one resident, His behaviour is bizarre.
In his report to council, Bill Nicol, the Public Works Manager, said that that section of the Elm Tree Road could not be reclassified from rural to urban, as Yateman had requested, because it did not meet provincial standards. A reduction in the speed on Elm Tree Road would set a standard for council to be obligated to reduce the speed on 420 k of gravel road in this township, Nicol said. A speed reduction due to an S-curve is not enforceable unless a by-law is created to deal with all sharp curves in Central Frontenac.
However, Nicol did say, in response to questions from Marsden Kirk, that there could be a site-specific speed reduction on the Elm Tree Road, but he added that this would create a precedent for other site specific changes in the township.
Councillors Marsden Kirk and Frances Smith supported a motion to establish a three-way stop on the Elm Tree Road, which would mean that cars going east and west on the Elm Tree Road would have to stop before they hit the intersection with the Garrison Lake Road, and cars going down the Garrison Lake Road hill would have to stop before entering the Elm Tree Road (where there is already a stop sign). That motion was defeated, and council will reconsider the matter at their next meeting.
