Edgers! On Saturday, August 13th, during our morning run group there was a terrible car crash on Third Avenue just before the bridge that goes over Highway 406. A young man was distracted on his phone and would have had to be travelling at a speed faster then 80 km/hr because he totalled his car and completely snapped a telephone pole at the base. The driver was lucky because the telephone pole crushed the car on the passenger side and no one was hurt.

Why are you sharing this coach? We continue to run down Third Ave as this is a great road that helps us get to the wonderful country roads for our long runs. I have been yelled at many times by passing drivers about our poor running conduct. I have witnessed many of you running 3 and 4 abreast down the middle of the road. This incident with the accident prompted me to reflect how lucky we were that none of our runners got hurt by this reckless driver.

Road safety tips!

1. Run on the left side of the road in single file close to the edge of the road. If this means moving onto the soft shoulder to allow some of the cars to pass, DO IT! We the pedestrian have the right of way. Being right and dead is not a good thing.
2. Ideally, DO NOT WEAR HEADPHONES! If you are going to wear them, wear one in and one out to give you a chance to hear what is going on in your surroundings. If a runner or a coach is yelling to you some instructions or warnings, it will be important to hear them.
3. Ideally wear a bright top, vest or jacket. Give the driver a target to drive at. NO! Important the driver sees you giving them a chance to avoid hitting you.
4. When you are approaching the water support car, EVERYONE needs to stay on the same side of the road. If the car is on the opposite side of the road you are running on, wait until you are very close to the vehicle, look in every direction before you cross the road. When the cars see us running on both sides of the road this confuses the driver and many will panic, which leads to anger which leads to road rage.

Along with our own road safety concerns, the residents of Third Ave have been complaining to the city for many years about the speed that cars travel along this residential street. Some of you even signed a petition to help the residents out with this concern. Together with them we encourage you to write to the Ward 4 councillors expressing your concerns with any close calls they may have had in the past.  Below are the names, addresses, and email addresses of the Ward 4 councillors. We need to encourage the city to become proactive on preventing speeding and wreckless driving on our residential roads.

Coun. Mark Elliott

Contact
Phone: 905.327.1763
Email: [email protected]

Mail: City of St. Catharines
PO Box 3012
50 Church St.
St. Catharines, ON
L2R 7C2

Coun. Mat Siscoe

Contact
Phone: 905.329.8162
Email: [email protected]

Mail: City of St. Catharines
PO Box 3012
50 Church St.
St. Catharines, ON
L2R 7C2