The City of Burnaby is getting on the right track with its attempts to slow down drivers in quiet residential neighbourhoods.
For example, the installation of speed humps on the following two locations: Hythe Avenue, north from Dundas Street to Cambridge Street in the Capitol Hill area, plus on Beta Avenue, from Brentlawn Drive to Southlawn Drive in Brentwood, just north of the mall.
Both of these areas have been plagued by ratrunners looking to avoid Hastings in Capitol Hill and Lougheed in Brentwood during peak rush-hour times.
They also approved them in my neighbourhood and I couldn’t be more please about it so credit where it is due.
UniverCity resident Stephanie Klatt started a petition in 2019 through the City of Burnaby to have the speed humps installed on the 9100-9300 blocks of University Crescent on Burnaby Mountain. Copies of the petition were sent to residents in the area. I know because I’m one of them, although I wouldn’t have had to pay a share of the $18,000 cost that would have been shared by the residents.
Later last summer, I received a letter saying the petition failed, meaning not enough people supported it.
I thought the issue had died.
The problem is so many of the speeders who come barrelling down this road are in “souped-up luxury cars” emblazoned with ‘N’ stickers on the back of them and their lack of driving skill and experience really shows. They blow through stop signs like they actually don’t know what the red sign means. They speed well over the posted speed limit, often because they can’t handle the power of these high-end cars. I also see a lot of them on their phones as they race by.
UniverCity has a lot of kids living there attending Simon Fraser University and Klatt was trying to protect them with a proposal to add seven speed humps.
But, as I said, I thought the petition had failed. I don’t know how this got done, but I’m thankful it did because people are definitely slowing down.
The road crew also fixed the curb cuts at one crosswalk to make it easier for parents pushing strollers and people using mobility devices.
I’m often hard on the city for its lack of infrastructure, but things are definitely changing for the better.
As for the Brentwood-area humps, they are interesting because this stretch of Beta is just west from where a ratrunner rolled vehicle on Brentwood Drive back in May.
“The sound of screeching tires, smashing metal and shattered glass once again resounded through the quiet streets of Brentwood last week when a speeding motorist, trying to outrun the traffic on Lougheed, collided with other vehicles and flipped his car into the middle of the street, halting traffic and interrupting a transit route for more than an hour,” area resident Matthew Senf told the NOW. “Sadly, the neighbourhood is nonplussed by this reckless threat to life and limb as it happens far too often.”
Readers have previously told me other areas that are in dire need of speed humps.
- Armstrong Avenue and Cumberland Street. Readers say ratrunners speed along Amstrong to avoid heavier traffic on 16th and 10th during rush hour times. Things get rough at Cumberland, tweeted @JustinNTurcotte: “A designated bike route that is completely dangerous and near-impossible to cross during commuting hours.”
- Reader @Swampo nominated Cliff Avenue and Curtis for people trying to avoid Duthie during busy times, saying it’s difficult to cross. “But, overall, kudos to City of Burnaby for improvements over the years on my commute from Barnet to Central Park. Excited for the new bike path along Kensington.”
- A reader who wanted to go by the name of Barnicus said that in the Edmonds/High Gate area, it’s 16th Avenue because people are trying to avoid Kingsway and Edmonds Street. But the street isn't designed for fast-moving traffic as drivers race east and west, making life dangerous for area residents, many of whom are children.
Ratrunning is a dangerous game because many of these routes are narrow and drivers are racing to make up time after being stuck in traffic.
It’s tempting to turn onto one of these side streets and floor it, but drivers must remember the dangers they pose to people who live in these quiet neighbourhoods when they speed through them.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
