Long overdue

Word Monday night that town council will look into a safety concern regarding pedestrians crossing King’s Highway to access the Legion Park here is welcome news—and long overdue.
The Times first raised this issue in 2006 when only the alertness of a driver prevented a potential tragedy involving a Third Street West woman who was walking home from the park with her young grandson.
It came to light again last June when two young girls on bicycles—trying to get to the Teddy Bear Picnic there—were spotted watching helplessly as traffic whizzed by. Then after the picnic, a town vehicle finally stopped so that one family could cross back to the north side after a long wait.
These are but two examples of “accidents waiting to happen” after the crosswalk that had been in front of the Legion Park was allowed to fall by the wayside when Alexander MacKenzie School was closed and eventually demolished.
And since its demise, there’s been no designated place to cross the “four-laner” from Central Avenue all the way to Keating.
Fortunately, this safety hazard—all the more unacceptable given Fort Frances’ designation as a “safe community” by the World Health Organization—finally may be rectified after council agreed to look into installing traffic lights at nearby Webster Avenue.
It remains to be seen whether traffic lights are the answer (as recommended by the town’s traffic safety committee at its June 26 meeting), or simply reactivating the old crosswalk is the way to go, but council must do something to alleviate this dangerous situation.
Children shouldn’t have to take their lives in their hands to go play in a park.