‘Dangerous’ and ‘scary’: Highway traffic in Caledon raises serious concern for some

Karin and Tom Bremner have been advocating for road safety in Caledon for years.

The couple lives in Inglewood and runs a blog through their appraisal company’s website where they talk about road issues and work in Caledon.

In their neighbourhood, they see a plethora of cars being rerouted through the village whenever parts of Highway 10 are closed off because of a crash or collision.

Karin Bremner says having trucks and cars gridlocked in her community is “very dangerous,” especially for pedestrians.

She says there are many trails that connect to parts of McLaughlin Road, and finds it difficult when walking or biking to pass through the vehicle traffic at those times.

“I think the rerouting is really a poor idea, but again if you have fewer accidents, you wouldn’t have to reroute as often,” said Bremner. “You need to think, I don’t want to just put a Band-Aid on this, I want to see if I have a better solution to fix the problem for a longer period of time.”

So, are crashes common on Caledon highways?

Since the start of 2021, the Ministry of Transportation said there have been 93 collisions on Highway 10 and 112 collisions on Highway 9 as of Dec. 10.

The Caledon OPP recorded that Highway 50 also saw 140 collisions up until the end of November.

Const. Ian Michel with the Caledon OPP said those numbers are consistent with past years from what he’s seen. He said the OPP’s goal is to reduce those numbers through enforcement and education.

“Drivers have complete control on how much due care and attention they provide themselves and others. Put down the phone when driving, slow down, drive according to road and weather conditions, ensure you have a properly maintained vehicle (clean windows, proper brakes, tires etc.) and drive sober,” said Michel. “All things that drivers can do to limit their risk of being involved in a collision.”

A safety review for highways 9 and 10 was initiated by the MTO in March 2021 after the Town of Caledon raised concerns about speed and operation of those roads. Highway 50 was last reviewed in 2017 by the Region of Peel.

“I would be happy to bring anybody who’s interested for a ride, and I’ll point out what those serious, serious concerns are along Highway 50,” said Ward 5 Coun. Tony Rosa.

Rosa also called Highway 10 a “scary corridor,” especially at rush hour, and said the issues on that road might be worse than on Highway 50.

His main concerns with the highways are truck traffic, the volume of cars on it, the number of accidents, and people who have lost their lives over the years.

In 2021, as of early December, one person had died on Highway 9, two people had died on Highway 10 and no deaths had occurred on Highway 50, according to the MTO and Caledon OPP data provided by the Region of Peel.

Rosa said he encourages his council and other members of provincial government to focus on making current roads better before building other roads like Highway 413.

Karin Bremner suggested more roundabouts built with trucks in mind would be useful in the town to have a “constant flow of traffic” rather than abrupt stops.

She said road planners should look at how European countries like Germany use roundabouts to control traffic in a more “effective” way that reduces emissions.

Bremner said Canada, one of the richest nations in the world, should be able to make these infrastructure changes easily.

“You (the government) need to redo your infrastructure to support what people’s needs are,” said Bremner.