Editor:
It's time Delta’s traffic engineers brought Tsawwassen into the 21st century.
Outside of South Delta all intersections operate consistently and therefore safely. Only the intersection of 12th Avenue and 56th Street operates correctly.
The proper operation of an intersection is to have the travel direction light change be predetermined by the pedestrian signal change. Yet the busiest Tsawwassen intersection at 16th Avenue and 56th Street has no pedestrian countdown as the green light goes amber and finally red within five seconds. Considering how fast vehicles travel 56th Street, drivers either run the red or slam on their brakes and skid to a stop.
Then at 12th Avenue and 53A Street a vehicle travelling north/south on 53A Street triggers an amber to red light for 12th Avenue in about five seconds, akin to 16th/56th, which doesn’t give drivers on 12th Avenue an appropriate amount of stoppage time.
These two intersections are the worst in the Lower Mainland and need immediate updating to avoid red light runners and rear-end accidents.
Other Tsawwassen traffic lights that are pedestrian controlled need to have their time on red reduced as traffic sits much too long awaiting a change to green, therefore creating unnecessary backups.
There are so many more vehicles in Tsawwassen being driven too aggressively and too fast without consistent traffic enforcement, so Delta has to create a safer environment for all drivers. Updating all the intersection lights is one way to make driving safer.
We pay very high taxes and we deserve safer intersections. It’s time for the traffic engineers to earn their pay.
Joe Hoar
