Sudbury·Audio

Sudbury resident says Paris, Cedar intersection sees weekly crashes

A busy intersection in downtown Sudbury has one resident asking police to do more to get drivers to follow the rules.
Greater Sudbury police say Cedar and Paris Streets wasn't a problem area when it came to collisions for the month of January. (Sara Stansfield )
Sara Stansfield lives near a busy intersection in Sudbury. She says it's too dangerous and something has to be done. She met up with the CBC's Samantha Lui to talk about the issue.

A busy intersection in downtown Sudbury has one resident asking police to do more to get drivers to follow the rules.

Sara Stansfield, who has lived at the corner of Paris and Cedar Streets for the last 1.5 years, told CBC News she sees crashes on a weekly basis.

And she said she's nearly been hit twice while driving.

"One occasion it was a pickup truck with a plow on it, which could have been devastating had I not been cautious. And another time it was just a regular sedan. But people just don't pay attention," she said.

"It's always involving someone running a red light going down Paris Street, either way, and the traffic going through on Cedar Street."

Sudbury police Staff Sergeant Rick Waugh said police don't record the number of collisions at the intersection of Paris and Cedar Streets because it isn't a priority area. However, he was later able to provide CBC News with the statistic that police have recorded 20 collisions at that intersection since 2014.

Waugh also said that, since July 1, 2014, there have been 19 collisions at Paris and York Streets and 64 collisions at Paris and Regent Streets. He said the city reports there are about 26,000 to 35,000 cars per day on Paris Street. 

Waugh noted that police have increased monitoring of intersections in the downtown region overall, after completing a "pedestrian and road safety initiative" in January.

"Collisions in general — a lot of them are intersection-related. Downtown, for instance, [there is] Paris Street and York Street, Cedar Street and Young Street, Paris and Regent Streets," Waugh said.

"We do have busy intersections in which we've had multiple collisions in the month of January."

Stansfield suggests installing a red light camera at the intersection could make a difference.

Sept. 2015 Google Streetview of intersection