Pedestrians at risk on Gaglardi
Jessica Johnston, News Editor

Speeding yahoos in trucks, obscenity-hurling men, and people aiming their vehicles at you for sport are among the obstacles that students face when walking down the east side of Burnaby Mountain from SFU, says one SFU student.

Carla Voss has been walking regularly from campus to Lougheed Mall since the beginning of the ongoing transit strike. However, following an incident last week in which two men in a vehicle deliberately tried to run her off the road, Voss says she is concerned about the safety of students who walk down the east side of Burnaby Mountain.

Voss says that this incident, while extreme and frightening, is not atypical of her experiences walking down the hill, and cites speeding traffic and the lack of adequate walking space as major safety concerns.

"The problem is that there are no sidewalks, so people who walk or bike have to go on the edge of the road," says Voss. "People drive up really fast and really close to the edge of the road, and it's a real safety issue." She also notes that the speed limit is frequently exceeded and rarely enforced.

According to campus security personal security coordinator Laura MacDonald, efforts to curb speeding on the mountain have been a priority for campus security, but she says that it is difficult to control drivers' speed.

"They travel at insane speeds off this hill, and we're doing a lot of speed watch," says MacDonald. "During the next few months you're going to see speed watch out four days a week."

The speed watch program is an ongoing effort to educate drivers and discourage speeding, and as soon as next week, speed watch will start monitoring drivers' speed with new equipment purchased for the university by ICBC. The radar equipment, which is the same as the RCMP's, will clock the speed of vehicles and display it on a screen at the side of the road along with the posted speed limit.

According to MacDonald, the program is designed to promote awareness. "A lot of times people are travelling at high speed, and they just don't realise that they're doing 20 over [the speed limit]" she says. "Security is trying really hard to deal with this because it's a serious issue - it's dangerous."

Wally Simmons, manager of security operations, says that enforcing the speed limit on Burnaby Mountain is a consistent problem, but notes that it's difficult to address without help from the police. "We are always addressing this problem with the RCMP. We need their support to do anything about it," says Simmons.

According to Philip Reid, media and community relations officer with the Burnaby RCMP, Burnaby Mountain drivers are "notorious" for violating speed limits. Unfortunately, he says that police can't always be on the mountain because they are deployed at other, more dangerous intersections in Burnaby.

Voss feels that as well as enforcing speed limits, a sidewalk should be constructed on Gaglardi.

Bob Glover, manager of transportation for the City of Burnaby says a sidewalk has never been considered because Gaglardi used to be considered a provincial highway, and has only very recently been transferred to the jurisdiction of the municipality.

According to Glover, Burnaby's first priority is to "rehabilitate the pavement" replacing areas of broken road and eventually laying an asphalt cap from Ring Road to Lougheed Highway. This road improvement will also involve the creation of full bicycle lanes on both sides of the road, all the way up the hill. In addition, the city intends to reduce the speed limit on Gaglardi Way.

In any case, Voss has no plans to walk down the hill again any time soon. "I would much rather hitchhike; I'd much rather get into a car with a complete stranger than attempt to walk down that hill. The risk is greater when you are walking," she says.

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