A group of concerned Brooklin community members have written a letter about the dangerous intersection at Winchester, Saint Thomas and Queen Street. Our greatest hope is to gain wider community support and have our letter printed in the Brooklin newspaper, The Town Crier. Please read our letter below and if you feel the same concern and would like to ensure that something is done to make this intersection safer, please sign the petition. Upon publication of our letter your name will appear alongside the names of other concerned Brooklin residents. Thank you for your time and consideration.

I live on the South side of Brooklin in the small cache of homes bordered by The Fairgrounds on West side, Anderson St on the East, the 407 on the South, and the thoroughfare of Winchester road on the North.  It’s a nicely secluded area that sits on the hip pocket of Brooklin, with only a couple of points of access: off Anderson street onto Duggan, or off Winchester road onto St. Thomas.  A lot of the residents like living in this pocket, holes and all, but the latter intersection has become such a mess that I’m starting to wonder how long before we start to lose something infinitely more valuable than spare change.  

As any resident knows, making a turn out of St Thomas on to Winchester or daring to access the area on foot is something more than just difficult: it’s become absolutely dangerous.  With Winchester being largely used to by-pass Brooklin on the way to Oshawa or Markham, the drivers mostly speed through what is ultimately a residential area, and residents are compelled to squeeze into that flow.  Should someone attempt to turn into the pocket, cars simply skip up onto what is ultimately sidewalk and dangerously pass around the stationary car rather than waiting for turns.

 
    Despite only passing by the area a couple times a day myself, I have time and again seen friends and family forced to dodge cars or walk through the (beloved) C-Store parking lot as a way of staying safe.  Should you feel less in danger of being hit by a car in a parking lot than on a sidewalk? I have in the past two years seen at least three accidents that required an ambulance/emergency vehicles, one in recent memory of a van struck so hard it was flipped over on its roof, while the daycare kids watched and pointed excitedly from their chain-link enclosure.  Clearly, we’ve gotten something terribly wrong with the infrastructure here.

Raised cement curbs? Nope. Traffic barriers?  Nope. Traffic lights. Nope.  Well painted white lines?  Nope. Supportive police presence that watches for and tickets those going up on the curb to pass turning cars? Nope.  I’m not trying to be glib.  Frankly, I’m scared, and I know I’m not alone.  Sit at Michael Kelly’s restaurant for an hour at almost any time of day and tally how often you see something dangerous happen at the intersection of St. Thomas and Winchester, and your total will shock you.  I don’t know if any of the above are the solutions, but the problem is obvious.  My friends, my family, and members of the Brooklin community are in danger on a daily basis: that’s the problem. Now how is the town going to find a solution?

If you agree that something needs to be done by the town to change this dangerous intersection, please sign the petition.