Where Saint-Charles Boulevard meets Highway 20 in Beaconsfield, residents say there are accidents and near misses on a daily basis. Two months ago, a pedestrian was hit and killed, while crossing. If something drastic isn’t done soon, residents fear it could happen again. The intersection is one of the busiest and most confusing in the west island. Residents say it’s also one of the most dangerous. “We see accidents here all the time. I’ve been here since 2009, and it’s constant,” says Magda Kujbida. She says the danger comes when vehicles turn left from Saint-Charles Boulevard onto the eastbound highway on ramp. Sometimes there is a priority left turn arrow, but at other times there isn’t – and drivers in a rush frequently turn into oncoming traffic. Kujbida’s daughter captured a crash on her dash cam in January. “A guy was turning left, and then a guy was coming down, and, you know, they T-boned each other,” says Kujbida. At rush hour, traffic backs up on Saint-Charles so by the time motorists have reached the intersection, they’ve often been waiting to turn for 15 to 20 minutes. On Thursday morning, CTV News saw two or three drivers run the red on almost every light, which that puts pedestrians in particular danger. “You have to have your guard up. Especially for children. I mean, we’re close to elementary schools,” says Michael Ricci. “It’s just a question whereby there’s more injuries or deaths.” In September, a 78-year-old man was hit and killed by a car turning onto the onramp. On the other side of the intersection there is no pedestrian light. The pole was recently knocked down by a turning 18-wheeler. It’s the fourth time it’s happened in the past year. “So, kids and anybody else walking here, they have to sort of guess when they can go or look back at this light,” says Kujbida. Martin St-Jean is the newly elected mayor of Beaconsfield. “We’re working on it. And as soon as we can do something about it, we will try and implement it,” he says. Before becoming mayor, St-Jean was a city councillor and chaired the traffic advisory committee. Because the highway is owned by the province, he says the town has little power to act beyond adjusting the timing of the lights. “There’s no alteration of the light timing that that is going to solve this problem. That’s the reality,” says resident Alison Palkhivala. She says as the area has developed, and the population has outgrown the infrastructure. “They have to rebuild it. They have to,” she says. St-Jean says it’s a $20 million question. “Can it be done? Yes. Will it be done? I don’t know, it’s a major endeavor. Hopefully we’ll find fixes that will make the roads safer and, in a much faster time frame,” he says. As a start, St-Jean would like to see red light cameras installed and a police presence at rush hour to enforce the rules of the road. He says the city’s vision zero section has been studying the intersection for the past four weeks.
