A concerned and emotional parent of two young children went before council Monday night to discuss the grave danger his children and others face in trying to cross a busy street on their way to school.

McCarthy St. resident Ken Baird said the children are in danger because of motorists who cruise through two allway stop intersections around Princess Elizabeth Elementary School instead of stopping. Those intersections are Elizabeth and Clara and McCarthy and Clara.

Mr. Baird first brought this issue up with council in 2005 and said he is disappointed that after council increased the size of the stop signs at one of the intersections nothing more has been done to stop the problem.

Enforcement in the area was increased, but Mr. Baird and Police Chief Rod Freeman are both in agreement that won't correct the situation.

"Enforcement alone has only a limited and shortterm effect," said Chief Freeman in a letter to council.

Mr. Baird told council that while the intersection of McCarthy and Clara was being patrolled a motorist failed to stop at the sign and decided instead to swerve around the 6-year-old girl crossing the street. He said the motorist's response to the officer was, "well, I missed her, didn't I?"

Mr. Baird is afraid that one of these times when either of his children crosses the street to play on the school playground they'll pay the price for a motorist not stopping.

"Even though the police are taking an active role in patrolling and monitoring the situation, regretfully, I think the only thing that will benefit [them being] there is that they will witness the accident, not prevent the accident," said Mr. Baird. In his original petition,

he suggested making the area a community safety zone where fines for not stopping would be doubled.

Chief Freeman has suggested painting "stop" on the roadway, increasing the size of the stop signs, rumble strips, a flashing

red light or coming up with another measure, combined with enforcement.

Council members debated what safety measures, speed bumps, rumble strips, wider stop bars, designating the area as a community safety zone, or flashing lights, would be best to go with.

They decided to pass a bylaw to establish a community safety zone. A report from staff was also requested to see how the emergency services would react to installing a speed bump.