A recent accident at the intersection of Jeanne d’Arc Blvd. North and Hunter’s Run Drive in Chapel Hill in which a pedestrian got hit by a car has renewed calls from local residents for the city to do something to slow down traffic along their street.

Hunter’s Run has long been used as a shortcut by motorists who want to avoid using Orléans Blvd. to get from St. Joseph Blvd. and Jeanne d’Arc to Chapel Hill South, or even by motorists going to and from Chapel Hill.

But that’s just one part of the problem. The other part of the problem is the short green light at Hunter’s Run and Jeanne d’Arc, especially for people driving north on Hunter’s Run and want to turn left on Jeanne d’Arc. The temptation is to speed up to make the light even after it has turned yellow, which is what happened when an individual got hit by a car last month. A 70-year-old driver was charged with failure to yield and the pedestrian sustained minor injuries.

Michel Beaupre is one of the residents on Hunter’s Run who is sounding the warning bell and wants the city to do something.

In a recent interview with the CBC, Beaupre said that her safety and the safety of other residents on the street, especially kids, is in constant danger.

“We’re scared to cross the street in our own neighbourhood,” said Beaupre told CBC Ottawa. “We’ve been saying our security is in danger for years.”

Fellow Hunter’s Run resident John Jerry told the CBC that the traffic situation and the safety of the local residents has been an ongoing issue since at least 1999 when he bought a house on the street. But every time they bring the issue up, the city just pays them lip service.

“You come across very early in the process that they’re just trying to put you off,” Jerry told the CBC. “There’s maybe three dozen homes on this street, so we don’t matter.”

As a result of a traffic calming study that was done in 2021, the city installed temporary seasonal measures called flex stakes which are meant to narrow the road and slow down drivers. They were moved in the fall to allow for snowplowing and never returned.

Since then, the city has installed a speed board which warns motorists about how fast they are driving. Unfortunately, they aren’t doing the job.

Residents are hoping for other measures such as speed bumps or a speeding camera, but Dudas says the situation doesn’t meet the necessary standards for those measures.

The residents would argue otherwise and wonder whether it will take a fatality for the city to take action. In the meantime, the situation remains unresolved and their safety is still at risk.