Cootes Drive fatality confirms worst fears

By Susan Clairmont, The Hamilton Spectator(Feb 15, 2006)

This is exactly what everyone was trying to avoid.

McMaster University students worried they would get hurt crossing busy Cootes Drive. Neighbours were afraid of hitting someone as they drove past. Politicians and city planners knew the potential for an accident was real. University officials wanted to ensure the safety of students and faculty.

Though there hadn't been a pedestrian accident there for more than 10 years, everyone felt that was just thanks to luck.

And so all the right things were done. A lengthy study conducted. A new crosswalk installed. Checks to see pedestrians were using it properly.

Still, Heather Watson was killed.

She was 19. From Oakville. A second-year student in the small and prestigious arts and science program. In the middle of exams. Leaving campus alone at about 6:15 p.m. Monday, heading home to the house she shared with roommates. Toting her iPod. It was just beginning to snow. She started across the street, either within the crosswalk or very near it.

A city dump truck carrying sand and salt had just turned off Main Street West onto Cootes, heading toward Dundas.

Heather was struck. She died at the hospital.

Yesterday, her family was reeling. Flags at McMaster were at half-mast. Police were interviewing witnesses and reconstructing the scene.

And everyone was wondering what went wrong.

Cootes Drive is the busiest pedestrian entrance to McMaster University, according to a safety audit done in connection with the Ainslie-Wood/Westdale transportation master plan. More than 3,700 pedestrians cross the road there between 8 a.m and 6 p.m. on a typical day.

The crossing point pedestrians and cyclists have naturally gravitated to at Cootes Drive and Sanders Boulevard did not have a visibility problem. It was far enough away from the corner where Main and Cootes meet that traffic and walkers had clear sightlines. Volume and speed has been an issue, though, according to Ed Switenky, acting manager of traffic engineering and operations for the City of Hamilton. It is a very busy road and while the speed limit at that spot is 60 kilometres per hour, just a bit further down toward Dundas it becomes a 70 zone, which some drivers anticipate. Also, Cootes is wide with no side streets -- a highway really -- which inspires lead feet.

With all that in mind, public forums were held to gauge the community's concern about the Cootes safety issue. Ward councillor Brian McHattie says students and faculty at Mac, along with neighbours and the Westdale BIA, were fearful someone was going to get hurt.

So when McMaster's fall session began in September, pedestrians and cyclists entering and leaving campus from the Cootes side found a brand new crosswalk in the exact spot where they had always dodged traffic. The walkway is wide and clearly defined by painted stripes on the road. There are wheelchair ramps on the sidewalks. The pavement aprons on each side of Cootes were widened. Red lights stopping traffic are activated when pedestrians push a button before crossing.

It seemed so much safer.

Could the iPod be a factor in the accident?

Hamilton police Sergeant Glenn Jarvie says it was found beside Heather on the road. Investigators are trying to determine if she was listening to it on her walk home and if so, could she have missed hearing the truck approach. Police will work with the university in upcoming weeks to educate students about that danger.

"Students wear headphones all the time and it is a concern of ours," says Philip Wood, dean of students.

There are still many unanswered questions about Heather's death. There will be an autopsy today. Police are still investigating. The city will conduct its own review of the accident.

Meanwhile, a family, friends, a campus and a community are grieving.

And wondering if Heather's death could have been avoided.

Susan Clairmont's commentary appears regularly in The Spectator.
sclairmont@thespec.com or 905-526-3539.