Walk and talk highlights challenges of getting around in Guelph neighbourhood

Jen Quillman has seen people take chances getting around her Guelph neighbourhood.

The mom of three has seen other parents with their children dart across busy Willow Road to get from the apartment buildings to the plaza. She's seen seniors use walkers to cross mid-block to get to the bus stop.

"I'm guilty of it as well," Quillman said, noting when her children might be tired and they don't want to talk to the intersection or crosswalk, "we're going to cut across. I'm going to turn it into a game and we're going to go across."

Quillman joined about 50 other people on Monday for a walkshop in the Onward Willow neighbourhood of the city to look at the way people get around when not driving and the challenges they face.

The workshop was set up by the City of Guelph as part of its Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries on city streets. Vision Zero was started in Sweden in the 1990s and has since spread around the world including in Toronto, Windsor and Kitchener. 

Police in Guelph report there were 43 collisions with pedestrians and 34 collisions with cyclists in 2022. So far in 2023, there have been 37 collisions involving pedestrians and 24 with cyclists.

A city report looking at collisions between 2017 and 2021 reported that on average each year, 39 pedestrians and 25 cyclists were injured in a collision. Of that, 14 per cent of injury-related collisions that involved either a pedestrian or cyclist resulted in a major or fatal injury.

Some of the initiatives implemented under Vision Zero include lowered speed limits, red light cameras and automated speed enforcement.

Liraz Fridman is the city's road safety supervisor. She said they wanted to focus on this particular neighbourhood, where the Shelldale Family Gateway and Willow Road Public School are located, because the city wants to do more proactive work in the area.

"We've been working with members from the Onward Willow Neighborhood Association group to really get a feel for what they experience on foot in the day-to-day, what we're doing well, some of those successes and some of the challenges or perhaps areas of interest to them that we can proactively work toward in the future to enhance road safety," Fridman said.

Diversity of perspectives

As part of the walkshop, the group of 50 people were broken into three groups and they walked a set route with seven stops.

At each stop, a representative talked about various topics, including:

• Speed cameras that have been set up on some residential streets.
• Lowering of speed limits, particularly near schools.
• Efforts made by Guelph Transit to make getting to bus stops safer.
• Noting where the community has created paths where there are no sidewalks and what the city plans to do about that.
• Renovations to Norm Jary Park.

"What we're really hoping to get out of today is just a diversity of perspectives from all of the different people involved," Fridman said.

"The idea is really to come together as a community and look at some of these complex challenges … and plan for future improvements to make this neighborhood safer."

Out of office into 'very practical setting'

The majority of participants were from the city, neighbouring municipalities including from Waterloo region, and agencies such as public health or police. There were some residents who took part in the walkshop.

Cyndy McLean is a Guelph resident who doesn't live in the area, but attended the workshop because she wanted to offer her perspective. As someone who uses a wheelchair, McLean says she enjoys getting out in the city, but it does come with challenges.

"I actually think it's a really remarkable way to get people out of an office decision-making environment and into a very practical setting," McLean said.

"For me, just even seeing some of the obstacles that people face every day going to school, getting on buses, crossing an intersection that I truthfully would make it my priority to never cross because it's so dangerous — those are good things to have that experience," she said.

McLean said there were parts of the walkshop that were "kind of tricky" for her, and she hopes people from the city will take that experience back with them to the office and think about it when making decisions.

Quillman, who works at the Onward Willow Neighborhood Group and runs programs to engage the community, said the walkshop was a good chance to see some of the challenges she's heard from people who have raised concerns with her.

She says there have been recent improvements to the area, including a crosswalk on Dawson Road to help people get to the Shelldale Family Gateway. She hopes the feedback the city gets from Monday's event means more positive changes.

She said it shows "people care, which I feel like this neighborhood hasn't felt that in a long time. There's been this sort of heavy cloud because it's a tough neighborhood."

"But I see such a silver lining with everyone just sort of coming in and pulling together and really listening," Quillman said. "It's great that we are being seen and heard."