Residents south of Osgoode say collisions at the intersection of Dalmeny Road and Nixon Drive are nothing new, but after two serious collisions in as many weeks, they’re saying enough is enough. “It’s unfortunate, there have been the last two (collisions) within the last ten days, but generally there’s at least three or four collisions every year,” says Vinny Manes, who has lived on Dalmeny Drive since 2021. “Pretty much in from our living room, you can see collisions happening right there.” An 8-year-old girl died Sunday following a crash between an SUV and a pickup truck at the rural intersection. On June 19, a young boy had to be airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after a collision between a sedan and pickup truck at the same crossing. “It’s one thing to have a collision, and one thing to have fatal collision involving families, involving kids,” said Manes. “It should not happen even once, and now it’s happening too often.” Manes believes there are several factors that are leading to crashes to Dalmeny and Nixon, with speed being one of them, and another being visibility. Drivers travelling Dalmeny Road have the right of way at the intersection, with drivers on Nixon Drive encountering stop signs from the north and south directions. Manes says drivers are frequently not seeing the stop signs and are driving straight through the intersection. “I think that a four-way stop is sort of an obvious, immediate, possible intervention that can be taken there, as well as a beacon,” said Osgoode Ward Coun. Isabelle Skalski. Skalski says she is not surprised a second serious collision has taken place there in such a short time and has been working to bring more safety measures to the intersection. “There’s growth of vegetation and I recently got some calls about needing to get the grass cut, which was done. But those kinds of things, like regular maintenance of the intersection, comes up a lot,” she said. She says rural roads pose more dangers to drivers given the lack of lighting, increased speeding, lack of awareness by drivers and the unexpected threat of animals. “[There needs to be] something that tells people that you’re approaching a danger zone or maybe have some extra warning saying that it’s a collision spot,” said Manes. With young kids of his own, Manes says these repeated collisions are hitting too close to home. “There have been two collisions, both involving kids under ten. And I have kids under ten. So, that’s really scary.”
