Today is Beach Day, and everyone knows it. There is a huge amount of traffic along the 19A, using the roundabout. Not only is it tourist season, but when there’s a waterfront event inviting everyone to gather in one congested area, and the pedestrian walkway around the yet unfinished roundabout is blocked off due to construction. How sensible or considerate is that?
As we were rounding this monstrosity about 11 a.m. this morning (Sunday, July 16), we encountered a line of traffic entering from the east, heading west towards the festivities on the waterfront. No one was moving, and soon the reason became clear.
There was an elderly man with a cane, and very obvious mobility issues, trying to get from the west side of this construction site to the east, having to walk around the north side of this insane construction site, to continue his journey.
Thankfully the drivers ahead of us cared enough to come to a standstill while the gentleman was making his way, slowly but surely, to safety on the other side. For someone in his condition it would not only be a considerably scary safety issue, having no barrier between himself and the traffic but showed absolutely no regard for the plight of anyone with whatever their disabilities, or even the perfectly capable young and old, to hope to make it without incident from one side of the roundabout to the other when absolutely no sidewalk of any kind is available.
Knowing that today would create extra traffic, and assuming (one would hope) that some pedestrians would need to traverse this horrendous situation, why was nothing done to provide some form of sidewalk, if only for the day?
Where is the awareness of providing equal access for everyone in public places? Maybe those involved in town safety should be held to account for creating such dangerous situations, when a bit of forethought could have prevented the problem.
The roundabout is causing more problems than it’s curing.
That intersection was never this dangerous until the roundabout was deemed necessary to solve a problem that didn’t exist.
Rosemary and Terry Taylor
Qualicum Beach
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