An Armstrong woman who was hit by a vehicle in a marked crosswalk near a school last fall has been trying to get the city to improve traffic safety in the area ever since.
Kristin McCallum was walking her bicycle across the pedestrian crossing on Wood Avenue at Adair Street in September 2024 with her eight-year old son in tow, when a vehicle struck the back wheel of her bike, knocking her to the ground.
It was a rare case of a parent being grateful their child wasn't in a listening mood, as McCallum said she'd asked her son to follow her across the street and he didn't. If he had followed, she said he would have likely taken "the full impact" of the collision.
"The girl never saw me," McCallum said of the driver. "She actually even told police that she never saw me."
The collision happened in the morning as McCallum and her son were biking to school at nearby Highland Park Elementary. Ever since the incident, she's been petitioning the city to extend the school zone there and add a pedestrian controlled flashing light at the crosswalk.
McCallum, who lives near the area, said the school zone doesn't extend far enough on the west side of the Highland Park Elementary property, and she regularly sees drivers "barrelling" eastbound down Wood Avenue.
"There's like 10 metres from that (school zone) sign to the edge of the school property," she said. "On the other side it goes all the way to the IPE office."
McCallum said many people saw the close-call collision and "it was all over Facebook in about five minutes," but yet, no traffic safety changes have been made at the intersection despite her requests.
She said she's been told for months that city staff are looking into her suggestions.
"It doesn't seem like it's really a priority or concern for them."
Other school zones in town have multiple blocks of buffer zones that keep traffic slow on streets where kids are walking, she said.
When the collision happened, McCallum was just preparing to have her son walk to school on his own. She no longer feels comfortable with him going by himself.
Discussions of improving safety on roads near Armstrong schools have recently been fuelled by a May 29 incident that saw a near Highland Park Elementary. A truck was making a left turn onto Highland Park Drive from Wood Avenue when it hit the child, who was being pushed through the intersection in a stroller. The incident came just days after a petition was launched calling for speed bumps to be installed near local schools.
In an email to The Morning Star, Armstrong chief administrative officer Trevor Seibel said he was concerned to hear about the incident.
"I have already spoken with the RCMP about the situation and they will be providing me any additional information to assist us. Although the City of Armstrong can鈥檛 legislate people who drive vehicles, we can review and assess whether the infrastructure is appropriate from a traffic safety perspective," Seibel said.
Seibel said staff have been working on a traffic engineering review for the section of Wood Avenue near the school, work that started well ahead of last week's incident.
"This work is almost complete," Seibel said, adding the engineer is currently reviewing traffic volumes, speeds and vehicle counts.
"The findings from the volume and speeds will be applied to the review and any recommendations will be brought forward to council as soon as possible," the CAO said.
Seibel said there will be a delegation at the next council meeting from one of several concerned residents who has reached out to the city. The information from the delegation combined with the pending engineering assessments will guide council's decision-making at a future meeting, he said.
