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MTO rebuffs Mono mayor again on road safety issues

July 18, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Mono council received the “worst sort of form letter” from the province’s Ministry of Transportation regarding safety issues on highways in and around Mono.

That’s the assessment of Mayor John Creelman about Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria’s belated response to the last of many letters sent about the issue.

In his response dated June 27, Sarkaria said the MTO recognizes “that high-risk driving poses ongoing challenges to road safety and that there is no simple solution to this problem.”

Creelman in 2022 invited then Transportation Minister Carolyn Mulroney, Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones, and Premier Doug Ford to visit Mono and witness first-hand the reckless driving that’s become common on Airport Road and various other thoroughfares.

He broached the fact that speeding fines have not increased in over a quarter century. He hoped then to ask the province to relax rules that make it possible for municipalities to deploy automatic speed enforcement on roadways where the speed limit is 80 kilometres per hour.

And there’s a list of other issues such as the need for proper signalization at Highway 10 and Camilla and Highway 10 and Hockley Road. And the need for environmentally responsible roadway illumination as well as addressing an unsafe lane on Highway 9 west of the 1st Line.

“Please be assured, MTO continuously reviews its policies and programs to ensure they are meeting the ongoing needs of Ontarians and also informed by current research findings and international best practices,” Sarkaria wrote.

And then: “The resolutions of concerned municipalities, such as yours, are an invaluable part of MTO’s process to continually review and refine our provincial approach to road safety and we will certainly consider them as part of the policy review process.”

Creelman said it took the ministry more than 160 days to respond to his most recent plea for the province to take steps to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians.

He said he doesn’t easily give up on such things and he gave assurances that the problem will continue to be pursued.

“[Sarkaria] did not directly address a single thing in our original letter,” Creelman said. “He did not refute any of the statistics or assertions. It is the worst sort of form letter that comes from government when they really don’t want to tackle your problems.”


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