This request, along with another in Oak Park, have been sent to the Traffic Engineering department. I received your phone call today and have already sent a follow up request to ask where this request is in the process. I will provide a response here by the end of business Thursday.

Mayor Burton - Thank you for replying as well, but I will address this matter in my ward as I have already been dealing with it. I will copy you on correspondance and would appreciate your support to expidite the matter.

The following email has been sent to our staff team to seek answers on this matter. Updates will be provided as soon as we have news.

From: Jeff Knoll
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 10:17 AM
To: David Bloomer; Scott McMillan
Cc: Ray Green (RGreen@oakville.ca); mgrant@oakville.ca; mayor@oakville.ca
Subject: FW: Intersection of Gatwick and Winfield in Oak Park

Dave & Scott

I am sending this email issue to the two of you in Dan’s absence. I have not had an update on this and I am getting concerns from the community again following another accident in May.

I would appreciate if this matter could be investigated immediately.

Subsequent to this email, I also enquired about the intersection of Gatwick and Sawgrass as I have also had an expression of concern from a local residents. In the order of magnitude, the concerns from the Winfield & Gatwick are greater but perhaps we could look at both at the same time.

From: Jeff Knoll [mailto:jeff@jeffknoll.ca]
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 11:12 PM
To: Dan Cozzi
Subject: Intersection of Gatwick and Winfield in Oak Park

Dan,

I have been asked by several of the residents who live at or close to the above intersection to investigate the feasibility of changing the stop sign to a four way stop. There have apparently been several accidents and frequent close calls at this location and the neighbours are very concerned about the potential danger in leaving this intersection as is.

In my own experience, as well as recent observation, we have two situations at play here.

1. There appears to be a high volume of traffic due going to and coming from Post Inn Village. Many of the service vehicles, taxis, vans and visitors use Winfield and are not local and thus seem to not pay the same level of attention to the rules and the traffic flows of the community. Siting at the intersection myself yesterday for ½ hour I witness more than half the north-south traffic not even stop for the stop sign.

2. Gatwick is an “open road” from Park Haven all the way to the end of the road at future Taunton. You might recall, we changed the orientation of the stop signs at Sawgrass back in 2003(?) to slow down traffic along that street and as a result we have opened Gatwick up as an “open road” and the result is that drivers get very fast and become less aware of opposing traffic.

I would appreciate the necessary processes be undertaken to see if a 4-way stop could be justified by warrant and if not, I would like to discuss taking this to council for consideration outside of warrant process.

Thanks!

Jeff

Jeff Knoll
Local & Regional Councillor for Oakville Ward 5
Web: www.jeffknoll.ca
Tel: 905-257-7258
Twitter: CouncillorKnoll

I am pleased to advise tha staff have responded as follows:

Staff has not performed a review of the intersection of Winfield Dr/Gatwick Dr since it was first constructed as part of the Uptown Core road network. Staff will schedule an all-way stop control assessment. This would involve performing an 8 hour turning movement count, reviewing the collision history at the intersection from collision reports from HRPS , and undertaking a field assessment. Thereafter staff would apply the all-way stop warrant criteria to determine the level of warrant compliance. Staff will perform these assessments over the next couple of weeks and advise you of the findings of this assessment when they become available.
 
A similar assessment can be performed of the intersection of Sawgrass Dr/Gatwick Dr following the above assessment. Staff would advise you of the results of this latter assessment when they become available.

I have been further advised that the necessary field work will start next week.

I will continue to post updates here as information becomes available.

Please make this a 4 way stop, I have seen one too many accidents at this location. Also there are many children in seniors that walk through this area.

Judy,

Thanks for your comment. I will make sure our staff are aware of your, and all other comments provided.

Have a great day!

Jeff

if you consider that there are probably 50 near misses for each accident it is a huge problem. Not to mention the amount of horn noise and angry drivers the situation creates.

A helpful move for Oak Park in general would be for each of the 2 way stops to carry the little "2 way" label under the stop sign which would alert drivers that these are not 4 way stops.

It strikes me to wonder if Staff's system of "warrants" takes enough account of local neighbourhood design differences. I'll take a look.

Paul - That is an excellent idea. Let me discuss that with Town staff and see if we can make that happen.

THANKS for that suggestion!

Jeff

Jeff, Town Staff,

"Paul - local resident" raised an important observation on near misses which are common @ Gatwick & Windfield Drive but the focus of this issue is to have Gatwick & Windfield Drive a 4-way stop. Due to the curved design of Gatwick in this area and increased speed through Oakpark having "2 way" labels will not prevent accidents or near misses at this intersection. If the "2 way labels" are a consideration please create a separate incident to acknowledge and track as this may distract the focus away from the "4-way" Stop sign request.

Poor visibility from a curved road, parked cars, and Tree landscape on a road with no Stop signs through a neighborhood results in accidents and near misses. Gatwick & Winfield is a frequently used path for residents and visitors to Post Inn Village, Parkview Children's Centre, and children walking to the local school, and other Oakville residents who volunteer at Post Inn Village.

Thank you,

Rob

Please rest assured I'm pursuing 4-way stop by testing the "warrants" used. A label on 2-ways is an interesting additional idea.

Rob,

I do not think that the 2-way signs were suggested as an alternative to the potential of a 4-way stop. My impression of the additional signage was to augment other Oak Park intersections where these concerns are also rasied.

From my own observations of the Gatwick-Windfield intersection show it to be the worst of those in Oak Park, we have other similar issues as well including at my own corner of Roxton & Greenfield and also Greenfield and Gatwick, where there have been accidents over the years.

While I read that the Mayor has suggested he wants to "test" the warrant system, I believe that they are starting the assessment in the next few days so I would like to see what it shows before we make a decision - it is not going to take very long now that the process has started. The warrant system did justify the reorientation of the stop sign at Gatwick and Sawgrass back in 2003 and I believe that it will justify it at your intersection too.

Understood,

Thank you Mayor, Jeff

Quick update to let you know that our staff are out today doing their warrant work - you can see them parked on the street with Town of Oakville magnets in their cars. There was one on Winfield and another on Sawgreass. We will have them on Central Park and Gatwick later this week also.

Jeff

Rob, Staff have responded about a "two-way" tab on stop signs at two-way intersections. Although not supportive, please be assured that staff and council are committed to having our intersections operate as safely as possible. The work underway will help understand the options.

Here is the comment:

"With respect to the inquiry about adding a TWO-WAY tab sign beneath the stop sign at intersections with side street stop control, this is not something that staff would support. Oakville staff endeavor to follow the signage practice as stipulated in the Ontario Traffic Manual (OTM) for regulatory and other signage. OTM Book 5 pertains to Regulatory Signs. This specifies that TWO-WAY tab signs are not recommended as they are ambiguous and could lead to confusion for drivers. OTM Book 5 specifies that tab signs for stop signs are only appropriate if the intersection is under all-way stop control. Oakville follows this practice and uses ALL-WAY tab signs at intersections with all-way stop control. The OTM specifies that “consistency and uniformity throughout Ontario in this practice will help distinguish all-way stop situations from conventional stop control, and facilitate driver understanding of what is required in each case”.

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the update. There really wasn't any focus on the "2 way singage" from the larger group of residents that responded to the original issue but it was raised by another concern resident.

We look forward to the updates regarding the 4-way stop request

Thanks Mayor for the update (Rob)

Rob,

I have the staff's report on the survey now. I will forward a summary of the results and next steps shortly, I just want to speak with them first to gate clarification on a few points.

I will post an update later today.

Jeff

Hi Jeff, has there been any further progress?

Hi Rob,

I have the report from staff with their next steps. I will post them here as soon as I am back at my desk.

Jeff

OK, I found a big issue with SeeClickFix! I cannot post replies that include charts and maps. Can anyone interested in this issue please send me their email address to jknoll@oakville and I will forward the report from staff.

In short, the traffic engineering staff have determined that there is a need to change the stop signs to reflect the traffic in the area. They are not recommending 4-way stops, they are proposing to change the current stop signs at Gatwick and Winfield and Gatwick and Sawgrass from controlling flow on Winfield and Sawgrass to both on Gatwick so that traffic stops on Gatwick instead of being one, very long, very fast, road. I have followed up to ask about timing of the change and also to better understand their rationale for moved 2-way instead of 4-way.

There is a report with maps and traffic counts that I can send you by email so you can have the same documentation I have on this issue.

I will post more information here as I get it.

Jeff

please send me the report

Thanks

Rob

Email has been sent. Feel free to share it with your neighbours and provide any comments back to me.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Is there a timeline from Traffic Engineering staff yet?

"the traffic engineering staff have determined that there is a need to change the stop signs to reflect the traffic in the area. They are not recommending 4-way stops, they are proposing to change the current stop signs at Gatwick and Winfield and Gatwick and Sawgrass from controlling flow on Winfield and Sawgrass to both on Gatwick so that traffic stops on Gatwick instead of being one, very long, very fast, road. I have followed up to ask about timing of the change and also to better understand their rationale for moved 2-way instead of 4-way."

I just asked that very question and I will follow up with staffs response in a few days.

Jeff

SCHOOL's back... No Stop Sign and drivers are still risking near misses at the intersection

3 years later no resolution or update. I sit on the porch when working from home and regularly watch near misses. Irate road rage incidents where one driver doesn't understand why the other didn't stop. It's about to get worse as the construction completes and Gatwick opens up to the east eventually meeting Trafalgar. It seems to have been an interesting social experiment to have alternating 2 way stops (which this junction violates) but confuses the hell out of non locals - case in point taxi drivers from the airport as example. I'm seeing kids on bikes sail through the junctions assuming cars will give way. Why not make everything a 4 way stop in Oak Park. When someone gets killed and it's getting more and more probable I'm going to point here, I hope I never have to. Oak Park is a daft traffic scheme.

Original request was reported on October 1, 2010, now it’s August 2015 almost 5 years later with no change.

~ July 2011 all-way stop control assessment was performed and a near miss occurred while staff was in their car reading their newspaper. I approached her car and shared what just happened in case she missed the near miss.

On August 19, 2011 the traffic engineering staff determined that there is a need to change the stop signs to reflect the traffic in the area… since then no change has occurred

Youth and Adults are increasing to travel by bike and skateboard southbound on Windfield Blvd through the Gatwick intersection without stopping or slowing down. The Gatwick Raceway continues without and changes while we’re approaching a new school season.

2016 - still nothing.

With the imminent connection if Gatwick Drive to Trafalgar will someone revisit this, and at a minimum change the intersection in line with the original plan for the subdivision to prevent this becoming a"rat run" and leading to more accidents.