Petition for Immediate Pedestrian, Traffic and Road Safety Measures on the Old Island Highway

To the Town of Qualicum Beach, Mayor Teunis Westbroek, and Council:

We, the undersigned residents, visitors, property owners, and community members of Qualicum Beach, respectfully call on the Town to take immediate, practical steps to improve pedestrian safety, reduce speeding and traffic noise, and protect the quality of life along the Old Island Highway between Crescent Road W and Seacroft Road, past the Shady Rest.

We support the Town's planned investment in walking, cycling, and road-safety improvements along Highway 19A. We recognize that a project of this scale requires planning, funding, approvals, and construction and may take years to complete.

However, the safety concerns exist today.

Our Requests

We ask the Town of Qualicum Beach to:

1. Implement interim pedestrian-safety and traffic-calming measures now, including clearly marked pedestrian crossings where warranted, speed-display or speed-advisory signs, pedestrian/cyclist warning signs, and other measures that can be introduced before major construction begins.
2. Work with Oceanside RCMP to increase traffic monitoring and enforcement, particularly during the summer months, when speeding, aggressive acceleration, motorcycle noise, and dangerous driving are most prevalent.
3. Assess additional measures to reduce vehicle speeds and improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and wildlife along this section of highway.
4. Address excessive traffic noise, including engine revving, aggressive acceleration, motorcycle noise, and other disruptive driving behaviour affecting nearby residents, visitors, and vacationers.
5. Incorporate these current safety concerns into the long-term Highway 19A project, ensuring that permanent improvements meet the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, residents, visitors, and the broader community.
6. Provide the community with a clear timeline for action, identifying which measures can be implemented immediately, which require further assessment or coordination, and which will be addressed through the longer-term project.

Why Action Is Needed Now

The Shady Rest is currently the last marked pedestrian crossing when travelling west from Qualicum Beach. Beyond it, there are no designated pedestrian crossings along this stretch of highway to Seacroft Road. This leaves pedestrians, beachgoers, cyclists, residents, and visitors without a clearly marked place to safely cross a busy roadway.

Speeding and aggressive driving are also ongoing concerns. Vehicles and motorcycles are frequently observed travelling at excessive speeds, accelerating aggressively, and revving engines, creating significant noise and increasing the risk of collisions.

These conditions affect the safety and quality of life of people who live, stay, walk, cycle, visit the beach, access nearby recreational areas, or travel along this corridor.

The community has even resorted to putting up unofficial signs asking motorists to slow down. While these signs demonstrate genuine concern, traffic safety should be addressed through effective, official measures—not by residents taking matters into their own hands.

Immediate Measures and Long-Term Planning Can Work Together

We are not asking the Town to choose between immediate action and long-term infrastructure planning.

The planned Highway 19A improvements can provide lasting solutions, while interim measures can reduce risk during the years required to design, fund, approve, and construct the permanent improvements.

Reasonable measures could include enhanced pedestrian crossings, speed-display signs, improved pedestrian and cyclist warnings, traffic-calming measures, increased speed enforcement, and targeted summer traffic monitoring.

People are using this roadway today. They should not have to wait years for reasonable measures that could make it safer now.

A Matter of Public Safety and Quality of Life

This is not simply an issue of inconvenience or aesthetics. It is a matter of public safety and quality of life.

We support the Town's efforts to create a safer, more accessible Highway 19A. At the same time, we ask Council to demonstrate that safety is a priority both in the future plans and on the roadway today.

The beach promenade and surrounding coastal area are among Qualicum Beach's most valued community assets. The Old Island Highway should support the safe, peaceful, and welcoming character of this area—not undermine it through excessive speed, noise, and unsafe conditions.

By signing this petition, we call on the Town of Qualicum Beach to act now to:

• Improve pedestrian crossing safety;
• Reduce speeding and dangerous driving;
• Address excessive traffic and motorcycle noise;
• Protect pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and wildlife;
• Implement practical interim safety measures while long-term improvements are developed; and
• Ensure current community concerns are incorporated into the permanent Highway 19A improvements.

We respectfully ask Mayor and Council to make the Old Island Highway safer and quieter now, while continuing to move forward with the long-term improvements planned for Highway 19A.

Our community deserves a safer Old Island Highway today—not years from now.

Please sign and share this petition.