Just over 50 people took part in a Safety Awareness Walk in the 108 Mile Ranch on Monday, Sept. 9.
Organized by citizens concerned about School District 27's new transportation policies, the event was intended to both demonstrate the risks of children walking to school along the 108 Mile Ranch's roads and remind drivers to slow down around the school. Co-organizer Danielle Colbourne said she felt the walk went well and was able to illustrate both of these points.
"We are hoping to create further awareness that these roads are unsafe for children to walk in the hopes the school district will reconsider the routes being changed," Colbourne said "Our goal is safety for all children."
The walk started in the parking lot of Cariboo Christian Life Fellowship, next door to Mile 108 Elementary, and made its way up Telqua Drive to the Cariboo Regional District Airport and back. Participants carried brightly coloured balloons and included District of 100 Mile House councillor Jenni Guimond and Donna Barnett, Mayor Maureen Pinkney, Cariboo Regional District director for 108 Mile Ranch and Lac La Hache Al Richmond and Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson. Members of the 100 Mile House RCMP also shadowed the walk to ensure participants' safety.
One of the participating parents was Kelly Goldbaum who brought her children on the walk. Goldbaum moved to the 108 Mile Ranch a year ago and while her children have not had their bus route cut, she wanted to attend the walk to show support for families who are within three kilometres of the school.
"A lot of our friends are within the three kilometres and can't get on a bus now so we're just out here (to say) that's too far for little kids to walk to school," Goldbaum said. "A lot of people showed up and I think it was positive to see. (The walk) was long, it was hot and the kids were whining. There was a lot of traffic and not a lot of space to walk. We didn't encounter any animals but that's definitely something we see a lot on these roads."
Following the walk, Richmond told the Free Press he plans to help amplify Colbourne's message by meeting with the Minister of Education Rachna Singh at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities later this month. He noted when he learned of the school bus cuts SD27 was making over the summer he met with SD27, the RCMP and the Ministry of Highways to talk about the concerns of the community.
"Both the ministry and RCMP expressed strong concern about the safety of students being on the 108 roads and generally on our roads where the shoulders are narrow. They believed it was a recipe for someone getting severely injured, or perhaps worse," Richmond said. "The school board informed me they were going to reinstitute one of the routes we identified and another pickup on Telqua Drive. They've done some work but it's not nearly enough to alleviate the challenges that most of the roads in the 108 have."
Richmond said he doesn't believe most of the roads in the 108 Mile Ranch are safe for pedestrians during the summer and spring, let alone in the winter when windrows will narrow the roads even further. He noted that during the walk he took several photos of children and participants having to walk in the ditch which he feels illustrates "it's not plain safe." At the UCBM he plans to present some of these videos and pictures, along with letters he has received from community members, to Singh.
"Hopefully we can get the Ministry of Education to step in and say 'we better have another look at this' because I don't think they've considered all the impacts. That's concerning when it's children, because children are our future," Richmond said, noting SD27 has proven willing to talk with him even if they haven't been able to agree on a solution yet.
As for Colbourne and her fellow concerned parents, she said they intend to carry on raising awareness about road safety in the South Cariboo. She has plans to conduct similar safety walks in Forest Grove, Horse Lake, Lac La Hache and any other community that requests it.
"I'm very grateful we have such support from our community, not only just concerned parents but also at a higher level as well," Colbourne said.
