Elementary school children in Area-C are not accepted into the University Hill Elementary School at UEL and instead are sent to Queen Mary Elementary on Trimble St (next to Trimble park). This has the kids crossing Blanca at Chancellor Blvd/8th Ave at an uncontrolled intersection. It would be safer to have a pedestrian crossing sign installed to draw attention to pedestrians crossing Blanca at that location.
The expert opinion was that a sign would make this crossing more dangerous by giving pedestrians a false sense of security. By this “logic” we should take off our helmets and unbuckle seat belts to give ourselves more acute awareness of traffic dangers. Vancouver
traffic engineers prefer to install a pedestrian controlled light rather than a sign. The problem is that the cost of a single pedestrian crossing is a quarter of a million dollars - that is in-line with our entire road repair budget for 2012.
Call 311 to ask for the sign and perhaps the squeaky wheel approach will have us heard.
