'This can't happen again': Calls for changes to Riverside Drive near fatal crash scene
In the wake of the tragic loss of an eight-year-old girl, some nearby residents along Riverside Drive are questioning the general safety of the roadway.
The girl died after a vehicle struck a group of pedestrians on Tuesday around 6:45 p.m. It happened only seconds after the SUV had passed through the intersection of Wonderland Road and Riverside Drive.
At least nine others, many children and members of a Girl Guides of Canada group, were hurt.
While London police say it will take several weeks to complete their investigation, those who live nearby the crash scene say it’s time to make changes.
“It’s a dangerous corner,” says nearby resident Heather Goddard.
Each weekday Goddard walks down the same sidewalk where the eight-year-old girl lost her life.
In her case, it is to catch a bus, “People don’t look. I try to cross and they’re trying to make the right turn when they don’t look. I almost got hit myself one morning.”
CTV News London archives only turn up minor crashes in the area over the past few years, but those living there say most of them are near misses.
The landlord of the apartment building right next to the crash site, Harold Vanattan, recalls an incident eerily similar to Tuesday’s crash that happened in 2020.
“Last year there was another accident right out front here, where the same scenario coming out the inside lane, hit the curb, hit a tree and spun around.”
On a drive down Riverside east through Wonderland, CTV News London cameras followed the path of the SUV to the point it struck a small tree and then a light standard.
A CTV News London dashcam captures the curve approaches the sidewalk where a fatal crash occurred on Riverside Drive in London, Ont., Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021.
Some residents say this spot needs a redesign -- to a full two lanes with more sidewalk separation -- in the near future.
And, for now, they say a guard rail should be installed.
“I’ve fully aware of things, especially the traffic volume at that intersection,” contends London Councillor Steve Lehman.
Tuesday’s fatal crash occurred in his ward.
He says he’ll be speaking with city staff about possible traffic ‘migration’ in the area.
But first, he wants to study just how many crashes occur leading to the curve and through the intersection with Wonderland.
Just like the crash investigation, those solutions may take time.
Even though, in an instant, so many lives were changed and -- most tragically -- one young life is lost.
“This can’t happen again. That was a horrible tragedy,” concludes Lehman.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.