Accident on 2nd Street & Marlborough Involves City Councilor – FEB 24, 2015

macCORNWALL Ontario – As the debate about the bike paths on Second Street continue a City Councilor had an accident on the corner of Marlborough and Second Street West.

Mark MacDonald missed council after the 4 PM incident where he stopped moving through the busy intersection when he heard approaching sirens.

He was rear ended and taken to CCH after suffering whip lash like symptoms.  He has stated that the bike lines have to go.

Cornwall is also not stating how much extra has been added to the snow removal budget this winter for extra cleaning equipment and man hours for the bike lanes that have cut a four line East West artery of our city down to two.

He missed another contentious subject at council as over twenty Cornwall firefighters attended council as budget deliberations continue.

Firefighters are concerned about potential cuts while Mr. MacDonald stressed via phone this morning that he’s trying to save jobs and that it’s not an us or them situation.

We will be updating this story as more information becomes available.

What do you think Cornwall?  You can post your comments below.

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21 Comments

  1. Funny how I almost lost my front end of my car a few times throughout the winter but a city couciller gets hit and all of a sudden it’s a rush..so if your a person of no importance there is no rush?? Is our lives not as important?? Something wrong here!!

  2. Author

    Barbara did you speak with any media or contact any of us? We generally run any accident photos or stories that come in here at CFN.

  3. It is difficult for me to understand how bike lanes at this time of year are to blame for this incident. The last time I was at that intersection I did not see anyone using the bike lanes or on them as it is middle of winter and covered in snow. The real cause could be heavy snowfall and poor snow clearing and high snowbanks along the roads. I sincerely hope Mark is okay from this accident.

  4. Now, the bike lanes being cleared in the winter…. that is a funny one….they aren’t. Take a drive down Second St. E and you’ll notice the snow plowing removal is the same as in previous years.

    Twenty Cornwall firefighters attended council as budget deliberations continue….can you say intimidation?

  5. Instead of worrying about bicycle lanes in the WINTER, they should worry about the snow banks being lowered… This my friends is what can cause accidents!!
    Sincerely, ACornwall driver, with FOUR kids!

  6. There is no need for bicycle lanes but there is a great need of shaving down the mountains of snow at crossings, etc. and someone or some people are going to get killed and then it would be too late to act.

  7. I was reading today that the city will cut back on the huge snowbanks in the city core. But other than hat they will not be cutting back the snowbanks on typical residential streets. They want Mother Nature to take care of the snowbanks in the spring. Oh joy!!!

  8. Hugger the same is true here in Ottawa. I don’t know if you were in Ottawa lately and been on Riverside Drive where Billings Bridge is located and talk about a very dangerous area for accidents. There are plenty like that and very crazy. The city is responsible for people getting into accidents when snowbanks are not cleared away. The same is true on the buses here in Ottawa and there were times that were dangerous where the bus would stop where there was a snowbank at the back door. This time if we run into that situation we will use the front door.

  9. With the winter we’ve had (so far) I can see how cities get behind clearing snowbanks.

  10. Author

    Hugger we’ve had a very mild winter. We had one heavy stretch, but for the most part it was pretty clean. I don’t think there’s much of an excuse for not clearing the snow as it is a safety issue.

  11. Admin….pure and simple it’s budgetary restrictions. After last year’s snow clearing budget got blown up by the length of the winter and amount of snow we received it’s clear they’re trying to save money. That’s all nice and fuzzy until someone gets injured or killed by not clearing snow mountains at intersections. At the end of our street there’s a mountain and we have to be very careful when we go that way. I agree it is a safety issue.

  12. Jules…I was in The Big City yesterday. It just reaffirmed by thoughts on Ottawa. I will never move back there. It’s too big for me and it takes too long to get from point A to point B. This year anyways Ottawa is doing a much better job at snow clearing that Cornwall. I saw lots of front end loaders out clearing intersections and pushing snowbanks back at various locations.

  13. Hugger I have seen the front loaders out as well and noticed this morning that more snow was cleared away from Riverside at Billings Bridge but more to clear away. Gee Hugger you sound like my husband who turned 70 at the end of November where he says that small places are easier to get around which is very true and he is born and raised in a big city bigger than Ottawa. Yes getting around here in Ottawa is difficult especially as we get older and I cannot walk the way I used to and what took me 30 to 40 minutes years ago takes me well over an hour at least on foot. I am no longer the same as I used to be and so much has changed here in Ottawa and the traffic drives us nuts.

  14. If we have to have the bike lanes can we at least use the bike / traffic lanes properly? Today coming home I was stuck behind two drivers who thought the through traffic lane was okay to make left-hand turns from. NOPE….there’s a common turning lane in the middle of the east / west through lanes to be used for turning left….USE IT. And BTW, there’s a lever on your steering wheel that controls your turn signals learn to use it.

  15. You are absolutely right Hugger in what you said about the bike lanes. Here in Ottawa we have the same problem and much worse and so many accidents. Bikers disobey the traffic laws and if you hit one of them then you as a motorist are to blame even though you were in the right and yes they sure do tie up traffic and don’t know the laws.

  16. I agree Admin. In the 28 years that I have been a resident of Cornwall this years stands out a the worst effort by the city with regards to snow clearing. Having 3/4 of a lane was not a safe situation and odd given that the previous year we had more snow and yet a better effort had been put forth. It does seem that safety came a distant second to savings. But then Bob’s legal tabs had to be paid, etc, etc, etc.

  17. Author

    David as a driver I can’t believe the height of the snow banks I’ve encountered. Pulling out is almost playing Russian Roulette at some locations…

  18. It doesn’t help that the paint used to mark the traffic lanes, was either of poor quality or poorly applied; it began fading and wearing off even before the first snow.

    City works might want to have a word with the contractor and supplier.

  19. In the boonies where I live west of Brockville, the snow banks are a lot higher than they’ve been for years. Winter started later this year, but we’ve had more snow and never had a thaw.

  20. Lassie….They reapplied a lot of the lane markings late in the fall. The original paint was either of poor quality or poorly applied.

  21. The same is true with the snow banks here in Ottawa but now the city is starting to reduce the size of the banks and in some areas clearing them out completely. Yes they are a huge menace to drivers and to pedestrians as well and mighty dangerous. This should be a priority and not spend money foolishly. Every city (town) department should be cutting on the frills and concentrate on the necessities.

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