Calls for improvements to Webb Road after Stouffville teen dies in crash

Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt and Uxbridge Mayor Dave Barton working together

Yorkregion.com
July 20, 2020
Simon Martin

Politicians and residents in Uxbridge and Stouffville are calling for changes to Webb Road In the wake of a fatal single car accident that killed 18-year-old Stouffville resident Taylor Brown and seriously injured the 17-year-old driver earlier this month.

“This horrific accident took the life of a young woman and created heartbreak for countless friends and family members,” Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt said. “Sadly, I am learning that this section of road in Durham has a long history of speeding.”

Lovatt said he has spoken with Uxbridge Mayor Dave Barton about addressing the safety of the road to make sure something like this never happens again.

Webb Road sits just east of Stouffville and runs from York Durham Line to Brock Road.

Barton visited the site of the accident and was moved by the many tributes left by friends and family.

“We would very much like to ensure something like this never happens again,” Barton said. “This has tremendous impact on the tight-knit community in Stouffville and my heart goes out to those who are suffering. “

Barton said the town has received a call for improved road safety on the road and it will be discussed in the days and weeks ahead with public works staff and council. He also said that he will be in touch with Lovatt to address the concerns of Stouffville residents.

Barb Malcolm runs Churchill Chimes Equestrian Centre on the top of a hill on Webb Road and said speeding is rife. “I will tell you commuters think it is a speedway,” she said. “Everybody on the road knows it was only a matter of time until this kind of tragedy happened.”

Malcolm said the major problem is everybody knows there is little police presence on the road. “I have been here 20 years and we have told the police repeatedly,” she said. “We have been telling them for years.”

Malcolm said it is sad that such a tragedy happened and believes actions need to be taken by Uxbridge and Durham Region to make the road safer.

Other residents on Webb Road bemoaned the lack of police presence to enforce the speed limit.

“We are supposed to be in a 50 zone. By the time they are well over the hill it is too late,” Sheryl Schlichtmann said.

“I have never seen them here. I have not seen them and I have lived here 21 years. It’s not that I haven’t complained -- I have. It falls on deaf ears,” she said.

“I do hear them speeding at night,” Carolyn Adamson said. She has lived on Webb Road for 30 years and has rarely if ever seen the Durham Regional Police enforcing speed limits.

“We have called the police holding the phone out so she could hear the cars go by,” she said. “It’s just the speeding is out of the control.”

It’s much the same story for Webb Road resident Liivi Kask-Ruona. She has lived on the road for 20 years and can only remember seeing the police once. “It’s really bad speeding. They like the hills,” she said.