PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor regarded the proposed traffic light at the intersection of Highway 20 and Balfour Street:
Both my wife and I are in our late 60s and thought the description of traffic at the intersection of Balfour and Highway 20 was over the top hysterical. Yes, occasionally it’s a little busy and you might have to wait 30 seconds or more to cross or turn, but it’s hardly the 401 madness described. We both turn left or drive straight through that intersection at least once a week. We do not believe it needs a traffic light. If that is the case a dozen other locations in Pelham require traffic lights. And who wants that?
I drove a school bus in Fenwick/Pelham. I do not understand the suggestion that that is a difficult corner to turn. In fact, I dispute it. Any school bus driver would turn that corner easily. A much more difficult turn is Highway 20 at Haist, or Canboro at Effingham but I certainly hope traffic lights are not required there.
I also made the turn in a full-size school bus every afternoon out of E. L. Crossley High School onto Highway 20 west at approximately 3 p.m.. Very busy traffic both ways, but guess what, wait a few seconds and traffic clears, no problem.
I think one of the charms of Pelham is the lack of traffic lights. They are not required 99 percent of the day. What I do believe Pelham needs are speed cameras because the ridiculous speeds of people driving down Canboro, Foss, Welland, and Highway 20 are absurd. This would be a huge revenue generator for Pelham. That’s the problem and the solution, not traffic lights.
Glenn Webb
Fenwick
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pelham bylaw officers do not enforce the Highway Traffic Act, which is the domain of local police departments and the OPP, thus no revenue would accrue to the Town from citations issued. Coincidentally, the photograph above arrived the nearly the same time as did this letter to the editor. The reader sending the photo said, “Another bad accident happened today at this intersection. Two cars, one in the ditch and one with the front end all smashed up, all airbags deployed.”
