Local MPP wants provincial standards for roundabouts

After introducing it to the legislature last week, Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris was at the corner of Block Line Road and Homer Watson Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon to talk about his Private Members Bill, called the Safe Roundabouts Act.

Harris tells 570 News the bill is made up of two parts, and calls for a province wide standard.

“Uniform rules for roundabouts, that’s the first part of the plan. Let the experts decide
what those are. I didn’t prescribe what should or shouldn’t be, I just said let the engineers, the traffic people figure that out. But I’m calling for it to be done. The second part was to require drivers in communities with roundabouts, so if you don’t have a roundabout you can’t do it, to properly enter and exit these intersections on their G2 and G road tests.”

Harris adds he has advocated roundabout safety to both the former Minister of Transportation and the current one, Glen Murray. According to Harris, Murray said improving roundabout safety was not an issue for him.

But Harris feels differently. He says roundabouts and the safety surrounding them is  something that has emerged as a key concern within in the community, and regionally, we already have over 40 roundabouts with another 11 on the way.

“We’re some of the pioneers in Ontario. Our roads are being modernized but the Highway Traffic Act isn’t and I’m calling for them to do that.”

Harris also points out there are different rules across the province on how to use roundabouts, which creates inconsistencies, and those can be dangerous.

“The MTO tells drivers to slow down and watch for pedestrians in a roundabout. Whereas our region says pedestrians go first. So when entering or exiting a roundabout drivers must yield the crosswalk to pedestrians. There’s an example.”

Harris adds it’s time for the inconsistencies to be buttoned up.

Berk Dietrich with Young Drivers Canada agrees in communities with roundabouts,  training and testing is needed and should be mandatory, but he says it may not be possible or practical at the moment.

“In the Kitchener Waterloo area, the current drive test centre does not have any roundabouts that I’m aware of, within a reasonable time frame to access. So we can’t tie their hands either, I mean they have to work with the area in which they are in.”

Dietrich adds the Young Drivers program already includes roundabout training in their program.

He feels testing in roundabouts should be eventually be mandatory, and is something the government should work towards in the future.