Car chaos outside daycare at Ajax GO station
DurhamRegionNews Article
AJAX -- A Whitby mother is sounding an alarm on dangerous driving outside a daycare near the Ajax GO train station.
Rachel Pooransingh takes the train from Ajax to Toronto for work, choosing the Ajax station over Whitby's because of the added convenience of Tender Years Child Care's location in a plaza next to the station.
She said the parking lot outside the daycare is car chaos, with drivers from the adjacent GO Transit parking lots flooding into the private lot, disobeying traffic rules and putting the safety of children and parents at risk.
"People don't obey the rules of the road, it's just becoming very frustrating," Ms. Pooransingh said. "It feels like the only way anyone's going to do anything is if someone gets hit."
The private parking lot and the commercial plaza it serves are owned by The Properties Group.
Ms. Pooransingh said drivers are using the private lot as GO train drop-off and taxi stand areas, although there are dedicated areas for those purposes in adjacent lots owned by GO Transit. She also said drivers often disobey a stop sign outside the daycare and fail to slow down when driving through the area, disregarding speed bumps meant to calm traffic.
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6 comments:
This has been happening since BEFORE the day care started. Seriously. It was one of the reasons why I walk/take the bus. Got tired of all the people who bypass the parking lot all together and seem to think they can jam their way into the left turn lane. The one people idle in for 15 mins or more to get out of. The one I was rudely gestured too, then had some jerkoff hang his head out the window to yell profanities at me because I wouldn't let him in.
Now that I walk, I walk randomly through that plaza. Those cars aren't supposed to be there, so what do I care that I am holding them up?
Normally I walk to Ajax station but I do get a ride now and then. Part of the reason drivers are using the parking lot by the daycare is because getting around to the designated GO pick up/drop off area and back out again is a nightmare. If the station and surrounding area were designed properly to allow people to get in and out quickly and safely there wouldn't be a problem. Also, I found since moving to Durham that drivers there have no regard or courtesy for pedestrians, or even for other drivers!
I dont know why people would keep doing it after having to wait to get out of that parking lot.
I feel bad for the people who have drop off thier kids, they suffer waiting to get out of that lot while a bunch of drivers who do not even need to be there wait to get out of that lot there must be at least 25 cars in a line in the morning and evenings, they would have to plan and extra 15 minutes to thier morning commute to consider how long they will have to wait to exit the lot. They used to have security in the morning, not allowing people to get in there if they do not have kids since the only thing open in the morning is the daycare, but that stopped a while ago.
@ Anon, this happened before the construction started when getting in and out of the kiss and ride was not a problem. Not that it is a big problenm now, certainly faster than getting out of that smaller lot. lame excuse.
I'm not sure if these people are all driving hummers, but I'm pretty careful about "disregarding speed bumps."
I live this every day. I used to stop and let drivers go through, but now I don't. You're not supposed to be there, so I'm not stopping. Just the other day, a driver wasn't paying attention, and came across the walkway...despite the fact that he had a stop sign. He stopped inches from me. He's lucky it wasn't raining. I would have smacked his car hood with my umbrella and not just my hand.
This may have been going on before the day care, but it's more of a disaster now that the Kiss and Ride is under construction.
When the daycare first opened, they had security preventing traffic from coming into the parking lot. That should be a permanent feature. There are places to drop off passengers. Use them. That's what they're there for. And if you want to bitch about the wait getting out of the parking lot, then take the bus or drive.
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