We, the residents of Hespeler, Ontario are concerned about pedestrian safety, speeding issues and a lack of marked pedestrian crossings for our school children- particularly at the intersection of Melran Road and Endeavour Drive.

With an increase in traffic volume, numerous near-miss situations involving pedestrians and vehicles and an increase in young drivers in our neighbourhood, we are asking the City of Cambridge to mitigate the increased risks to our pedestrians.

We require a resolution to address both speed and traffic volume through proper signage and a marked intersection where vehicles will be forced to stop and allow pedestrians to cross safely through the use of a crossing guard or stop sign.

This intersection is particularly busy during rush hour traffic where both city buses and school buses do their drop offs for other schools in the area including Jacob Hespeler Secondary School. It also links directly with a main walking trail (the Brewster Trail) used by many residents (including more vulnerable populations like school children and seniors) for physical activity including walking and cycling as well as a main route for school children attending two schools in this area- Hillcrest Public School and Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School.

A safer crosswalk could potentially mean less vehicular traffic if parents felt more at ease walking their children to school which would also reduce the carbon footprint in our community.

In addition, there are some children in our neighbourhood with special needs who are at higher risk in navigating a high traffic area with speeding drivers who often show no regard for our larger groups of children trying to cross the street.

In the last five years since our last attempt to resolve this situation, there has been an increase in street racing, distracted driving (ie: texting) and/or aggressive driving including speeding up or verbally assaulting those who are trying to cross the street.

Please help us to keep our residents safe. Let's not wait until a tragedy happens.