If you’re a driver in Muskoka, the OPP wants to hear from you. The police are hosting the third 2018 Muskoka Safe Roads Campaign community forum in Huntsville next week. There have already been meetings in Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, and there will be a final one in MacTier at the end of the month.
Huntsville OPP Detachment Commander John Graham says the whole point of these community forums is to hear from the public and get some innovative ideas from those who are most affected by distracted or impaired driving, speeding, or any other dangerous driving habit. He says the OPP wants to work with the largest stakeholders in this issue, which is the commuters and people affected by the issues on roads, highways, waterways, and trails.
He says the working group will also include people who have attended these community forums. The group will look at prioritizing initiatives and building momentum to advocate for the safest roads in the province and the country. Graham says they are looking at what they can do for “quick wins” as well as long-term sustainability, and the public and the police need to work together to make that happen.
Graham says some great ideas have already been proposed; red light cameras, widening shoulders for cyclists and pedestrians among them. He says the OPP’s biggest goal is to be collision-free in Muskoka. He says in 2017 there were over 1,200 crashes in the district, nine of which were fatal. The underlying theme of those collisions was driver behavior, according to Graham.
The next Safe Roads Campaign forum is happening at the Active Living Centre in Huntsville on April 19th, from 6:30 to 8:00pm. If you plan on attending, RSVP to [email protected].