I recently moved into the eastern end of Elmvale Acres, specifically on Russell Road near the intersection with Smyth and Othello.  It is a mixed neighbourhood with a combination of single family homes, apartment buildings (including those managed by Ottawa Community Housing), town home and condo complexes, the Perley and Rideau Veteran's Health Care Centre, the Smyth Medical Centre, CBI Health (which ironically provides physical therapy for those suffering from motor vehicle accidents) and the Dempsey Community Centre.  The road has sidewalks on both sides with a healthy amount of foot traffic, as well as private and communal driveways where vehicles enter and exit.

However, the speed at which vehicles drive down this stretch of Russell Road (between Smyth Road and Industrial, which unfortunately now acts as a link between St. Laurent Boulevard and Industrial Road, where the retail complex known as the Train Yards is located) has made many of us feel unsafe.  There are no posted speed limits, but there are several signs (including elderly and children crossing signage) and a pedestrian crosswalk.  You would hope that this would encourage drivers to slow down, but they do not.  There is only one place where you can safely cross this street -- that is, the street lights at the intersection with Haig.  Stepping out into the pedestrian crosswalk in front of the Perley is risky business at best.

This neighbourhood has a wide range of residents: kids, pensioners, elderly homeowners and renters, working people, new immigrants and families, disadvantaged folk -- some accompany their older relatives for a stroll, or their kids or dogs on the way to the local park.  Many do not have cars and rely on public transit. 

Just the other day my neighbour was struck head on while in her car turning into her own driveway.  If the car that hit her was going at a reasonable rate of speed, there would have been time to stop.  But because he was not, her car was destroyed and her life is forever changed by this crash.  It could have been much worse but why should we wait for someone to be killed or maimed by a speeding driver?

The cars, trucks and buses that speed along this stretch of Russell Road are just passing through.  They are not residents.  They are looking for the fastest way to get to where they are going and are happy that there are no stop signs, few traffic lights, posted speed limits or speed calming measures in place to slow them down. 

Please join me in asking our local Councillor Jean Cloutier to take steps to make this part of Russell Road in OUR neighbourhood a safer place for all.