Salmon Arm City Council appreciates 5th grade student’s letter requesting pedestrian crossing lighting – Salmon Arm News

A Salmon Arm elementary school student’s letter to the City Council requesting a new crosswalk light impressed city council members at a recent meeting.

During the Salmon Arm City Council meeting on October 28, the City Council received a letter in their correspondence packet from a Grade 5 student at Bastion Elementary named Luka Mae Larson.

In the letter, Larson said they walk to school every day and some cars don’t stop at the crosswalk at 20/21 Street NE.

“I think it would be a good idea to put a cross light there so cars know pedestrians are waiting to cross,” Larson said in the letter.

Larson concluded the letter by thanking the City Council for their hard work to make the city safer.

The letter was a hit with the city council. Sylvia Lindgren called it “the best kind of letter we get here.”

Lindgren went on to praise how well the letter was written.

“This is a very well written letter with a very good introduction to who they are and what the problem is, a proposed solution and an acknowledgment of the other hard work that city staff and council are doing,” she said.

She then asked if the staff had any more information about the crossing and if it would be a good letter to forward to the traffic and safety committee.

Count. Kevin Flynn agreed that the letter should be forwarded to the commission and noted the effectiveness of flashing pedestrian lights on Okanagan Avenue.

“I would suggest that this is probably a very good location for one of the flashing lights turned on by a pedestrian because I think it is needed here and I will fully support it,” he said.

Robert Niewenhuizen, director of engineering and public works, informed the council about a 2020 study conducted in partnership with ICBC that examined the city’s crossings.

“This specific location was identified for a proposed fast flashing beacon,” he said.

Niewenhuizen further said his department is also preparing a report for the BC Vision Zero road safety grant and that this location will likely be recommended to council for additional safety measures.

A motion to forward the letter to the traffic and safety committee for review was passed unanimously.