Amherstburg votes to remove rumble strips from intersections due to noise

Rumble strips are installed on roadways to alert drivers, but do they actually save lives?

It's a discussion that was had in Amherstburg the same day the municipality of Connaught, Saskatchewan passed a motion to ask provincial officials to install them where 16members of the Humboldt Broncos were killed.

But Amherstburgtown councilhas voted to remove them, including one that was installed after a fatal crash occurred last year.

"In the intersections that we're dealing with in Amherstburg there are many residents and they are within those distances that it's recommendednot to put them in for the noise reasons,"saidAntoniettaGiofu, director of engineering and public works for the town.

The recommended distance for the strips is 200 to 500 m away from residential areas, so people are not disturbed by the noise.

"We received a report with some recommendations and basically it concluded that [the town could fill]in the rumble strips we could proceed with other counter measures to make those intersections safe."

Giofu said things like increasing the size of the stop signs, and installing red flashing beacons on stop signs are something the town is considering.

Amherstburg began filling in the rumble strips at seven intersections across the town on Wednesday, but signs with flashing lights will likely not be installed until the summer.

AmherstburgMayorAldo DiCarlosaid that the volume of accidents in the rumble strip areas were"not huge."

"We can't stop all accidents from happening we can only put things in place. Without a crystal ball we can only go on statistics that we believe to be the most likely," he said.

The mayor said he understands the concerns for those who support the stripsbut for those who live nearby, it's not a reasonable level of noise.

"People were saying it was affecting their quality of life," said DiCarlo, adding that most of the strips were closer than 200 m away from homes.

He would like to see the municipality crack down more on distracted driving, which is the reason why rumble strips are installed in the first place.

"It's one of those things where you learn over time what works and what doesn't work. These obviously had a very negative affect for the people that livedby them and you also have to look at the frequency of the accidents," said DiCarlo.

"We don't want to lose any lives."