Speeding has been an issue where driver crashed through south Windsor home, residents say

It was Windsor's Ward 10 councillor who gave his constituents the "Please Slow Down" sign sitting on the law outside the home where a woman died this week after a driver crashed through the building. Now, Coun. Jim Morrison says he's going to look into new traffic calming measures for the area. 

Morrison says that if there's interest in traffic calming measures for Riviera Drive, he'd do his best to expedite work in the spring, calling the crash that took a 73-year-old woman's life a "tragedy" and "totally unexpected."

"I want to talk to the neighbours, get some feedback," he said. "I'm going to see what their experiences … living there, whether this is just a once-in-a-lifetime event or whether they're constantly dealing with the speeding cars."

Over the weekend, a 73-year-old woman was killed after a minivan hit her home on Riviera Drive near Skyline Drive. Another person was taken to hospital, and police say the driver was uninjured. 

Two of the people who live in the home hit by the van over the weekend, who identified the victim as their grandmother Rose, say speeding has been a consistent issue in the neighbourhood where young children play in front yards frequently. 

Morrison says he hasn't received any feedback from residents just yet, but is in communication with Windsor police and the city's traffic team. 

One possibility is more photo radar enforcement — for quiet residential neighbourhoods, it may be more effective than police speed traps because the volume of traffic is lower. 

"It wouldn't be normal for you to catch somebody in a real quiet neighborhood like this," Morrison said. 

"But again, people have to obey the rules and obey the signs ... It seems to be a challenge with certain people that they just have total disregard for what we try to do."

Residents say speeding is an issue in the neighbourhood. 

"I heard about this on the news the other day and I was just astounded that this could happen in such a quiet residential area," said resident Larry Bennett, who lives on a nearby street. "It's astounding to me."

Bennett says he chalks some of the speeding issues in the neighbourhood to an influx of students and more rental housing. 

"The rental units are being inundated with students coming and going out of all hours of the night and day," Bennett said. "It's kind of taken away from our single-family residential areas with more population and cars coming and going."

Windsor police say the crash remains under investigation and charges are undetermined at this time. 

Bennett said he's not a fan of many traffic calming measures, including speed bumps and flex signs that are used to narrow the road. Stop signs would slow people down, he acknowledged, but they come with their own frustrations. 

But another nearby resident is all for  it. 

"Maybe put the speed bumps on the streets, maybe put the speed limit down a little bit, have undercover [police] too. There's speeding everywhere in the city and crashes every single day and it's getting out of hand," said Miranda Arfiero. 

Arfiero says she'd like to see speed limits in residential areas brought to 40 km/h, and says drivers routinely go 60 or 70 km/h in her neighbourhood.