Parking in Front of Golf Road Junior Public School

and Tecumseh Senior Public School

Scarborough Golf Club Road

Ward 16 - Scarborough Highland Creek

The Scarborough Community Council recommends the adoption of the following report (September 25, 1998) from the Director of Transportation Services, District 4:

Purpose:

To address the need to amend the parking/stopping restrictions in the area of Golf Road Junior Public School and Tecumseh Senior Public School on Scarborough Golf Club Road.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

The $500.00 (approximate) funds associated with the installation of the stopping restriction signs is available in the Transportation Services 1998 Budget, Account No. 20000-70200-72260.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1)the parking regulations identified in Appendix 1 of this report be rescinded;

(2)the stopping regulations identified in Appendix 2 of this report be approved; and

(3)the appropriate by-law be amended accordingly.

Council Reference/Background/History:

At the request of the Board of Education and the Densgrove Park Community Association, staff investigated parking and pedestrians crossing in the vicinity of Golf Road Junior Public.School and Tecumseh Senior Public School on Scarborough Golf Club Road.

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

Golf Road Junior Public School and Tecumseh Senior Public School have a continuous frontage along a portion of the west side of Scarborough Golf Club Road, just north of Lawrence Avenue. A pedestrian crossover is located at the north end of the school property at Par Avenue. Scarborough Golf Club Road in this area has a signed 50 kilometre per hour speed limit and appropriate signs exist advising motorists of the schools and the pedestrian crossover.

The west side of the road, along the frontage of the schools, is signed as "No Parking, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday" along with a school bus loading zone. On the opposite side of the road, a "No Parking Anytime" prohibition is posted.

Traffic Operations - On-Street Parking Observations

Many motorists choose to obey the existing parking restrictions and/or the school bus loading zone along the front of the schools. The following table shows the results of these observations:

This table shows that most of the parking is occurring within the Golf Road Junior Public School parking lot/loop. Although three motorists in the morning and in the afternoon are indicated as parking on the school side of the road, they did avoid parking within the school bus loading zone. It is encouraging to note all but one motorist obeyed the one-way signs installed on Board property and properly used the loop design of the parking lot as intended.

Pedestrian Crossing Observations

Staff also recorded the volume and location of pedestrians crossing by the schools on Scarborough Golf Club Road. The following tables show these observations:

These tables show that, fortunately, most pedestrian crossings are taking place at the pedestrian crossover (PXO). It should be noted that, during the busiest times of school generated pedestrian activity, an adult crossing guard is on site to augment the safety of this pedestrian crossover. Although the tables above do show several mid-block crossings, that occurred through adequate gaps in traffic, pedestrians should always be encouraged to make use of the existing traffic controls. Nonetheless, it should also be stressed that, no conflicts were recorded between any pedestrian and motorist during our studies.

Collision History

In addition to the studies outlined above, a thorough four-year collision review of this area (fromJanuary 1, 1994 to December 31, 1996) revealed that only two collisions have been reported within the immediate area of the schools.

Of these two collisions, one occurred in 1994 at a private drive just south of Par Avenue. In this collision, that occurred on a Saturday afternoon, one of the drivers was reported as "had been drinking". Fortunately, only minimal injuries resulted from this collision and charges were laid against driver at fault. The remaining collision occurred in 1996 and involved packed snow road conditions. No injuries or charges came about as the result of this collision.

Conclusions:

Replacing the existing "No Parking, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday" signs with "No Stopping, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday" signs along the front of the schools will prevent all cars from loading and unloading along this section of road. Motorists will then use the off-street loop/parking lots or proceed to other lower volume area roads. This restriction is appropriate on a four lane road such as Scarborough Golf Club Road due to the traffic volumes on this street. Furthermore, very few motorists are currently stopping in front of the school, so the impact of these restrictions will not be severe. No additional on-street parking amendments are required as motorists are obeying the posted restrictions.

Contact Name:

Bruce Clayton

Supervisor, Traffic Investigations, Works and Emergency Services

Telephone: 396-7844

Fax: 396-5681

E-mail: clayton@city.scarborough.on.ca

Appendix 1

"No Parking"

Prohibition to Be Rescinded

Column 1Column 2Column 3Column 4

HighwaySideFromToTimes or Days

Scarborough WestLawrenceChandler7:00 a.m to

Golf ClubAvenueDrive6:00 p.m.

RoadMonday to

Friday

Appendix 2

"No Stopping"

Prohibition to Be Enacted

Column 1Column 2Column 3Column 4

HighwaySideFromToTimes or Days

Scarborough WestLawrenceChandler7:00 a.m to

Golf ClubAvenueDrive6:00 p.m.

RoadMonday to

Friday