Raise the Hammer

as someone who lives in the King/Locke, King/Dundurn neighbourhood allow me to share my two cents. There is quite a bit of pedestrian traffic in the area, despite great efforts by the city and flunky engineers over the years to turn this into a mega-freeway extension of the 403. A recent Durand neighbourhood meeting revealed the following stat from the local police officer who attended: King and Dundurn has the highest accident rate in the city. Guess which intersection is number 2? Main and Dundurn.

Anyone suggesting (with a straight face) that these two intersections work fine, is clueless. The only reason I can see for restricting pedestrian crossings is so that drivers can just scream around the corner onto King without having to look right. I've seen MANY pedestrians hit since living in this neighbourhood while legally crossing Locke or Dundurn on the north side. People headed south on Locke or Dundurn never look right while making their legal 'right turn on red'.

My solution is ultra cheap and ultra simple. Look no further than Montreal.

BAN all right turns on red. And allow pedestrians to cross all 4 directions. Let it sink in. I know it's a really radical idea.

Hamilton is so far behind and so backward in our thinking still it's baffling. The odd good change doesn't make up for the non-stop parade of bad decisions in the face of clear evidence.

As I stated in a different blog, I want a refund on all these 'economic summits' and conferences we constantly hold. Don't hold another single summit until we've pulled our heads out of the sand and followed through on the smart ideas presented during the previous conferences.

Ryan, your entry above discussing the 8 minute walk is very important.
City studies have found that the two-way conversion of James and John has added 2-3 minutes on a drivers trip on James from the north end to the escarpment.
Now, we're abandoning the King, Main, Cannon two-way plan presumable for the sole purpose of saving that 2.5 minutes for car drivers once again. The city has no problem asking pedestrians to walk 8 minutes out of their way, but won't follow through on THEIR OWN document called "Putting People First" because it may result in cars slowing down to the tune of 2 and a half minutes.

Anyone who thinks Hamilton 'gets it' is delusional. Disconnected bike lanes and the odd, over-engineered two-way conversion does not turn a backwards hick town into a bastion of progressive idea. Go live in Portland, Montreal, Vancouver or Amsterdam for a few years and see what it's like to live in a real progressive city. We're light years away, sadly.