Markham residents erect lawn signs to slow down drivers

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 25, 2016
By Amanda Persico

In the coming days, drivers will see ghouls and goblins about in their neighbourhood.

But local residents are warning drivers, those dressed up as pirates and princesses are local kids.

After learning of a fatal collision involving a four-year-old student last fall, Sheri Gammon Dewlings, a mother of two, decided it was time to take action against careless divers in her neighbourhood.

“A lot of people were angry,” she said of the incident. “Often you hear people blaming the pedestrian. But road safety is an all-round responsibility.”

In less than a few days, the Markham resident knocked on doors and put up close to 200 signs along boulevards in the Cornell area.

The lawn signs depict a child’s profile and read ‘SLOW DOWN, kids at play’.

With schools and municipalities encouraging more students and parents to walk to school and with Halloween around the corner those lawn signs are back.

“This is the low hanging fruit,” Gammon Dewlings said of the signs. “This is neighbour-to-neighbour peer pressure.”

The signs act as a simple reminder that drivers are not the only ones in the area and that everyone has a part to play in safety.

“It’s an individual commitment to slow down,” Gammon Dewlings said.

The signs are just part of the Slow Down East Markham Facebook initiative started by Gammon Dewlings.

The Facebook group, with close to 250 members, is a online space where residents can warn of unsafe driving behaviours, such as drivers passing a stopped school bus.

The group is not about ousting drivers, Gammon Dewlings said, but more to help encourage residents to report unsafe driving to local police through the Road Watch program.

Road Watch is a community-driven program where residents can report aggressive or unlawful behavior, such as speeding, unsafe lane changes, running a red light or failing to stop at a stop sign.

“It takes a community to protect our kids,” Gammon Dewlings said. “This is all about the kids.”

Motorists will also see similar signs popping up in other Markham communities such as Boxgrove and Greensborough.

The region used a similar sign campaign during viva rapidway construction along Hwy. 7 and Davis Drive.

According to York Regional Police’s annual statistics report, there were about 4,200 criminal traffic violations in 2015 across the region, which includes impaired driving and dangerous driving charges.

There were about 14,600 reported collisions on York Region roads.

And more than 38,800 charges were laid for speeding, 11,300 for disobeying a stop sign, 5,000 for careless driving and 2,600 for running a red light.

There were 19 fatal collisions, killing 23 people across the region. Seven of those killed were pedestrians.

Last year, in Markham, there were about 320 instances of impaired driving along with 630 other traffic violations, which includes speeding, disobeying a stop sign and running a red light – second only to Vaughan with close to 900 traffic violations in 2015.

The ‘Kids at Play’ signs can be purchased at Love Gelato, 75 Main St. Markham.