402 truck backups, recent violence concern Point Edward police board

POINT EDWARD – Border truck backups on Highway 402, violent crime and loud vehicles were on Point Edward police board chair Carolyn Leaver-Luciani’s mind Thursday.

AT months-long lane reduction on the Blue Water Bridge amid a $4-million maintenance project has tractor-trailers at times backed up as far as the Highway 40-Modeland Road exit, she said as the board met at the Point Edward municipal office.

This leaves local traffic no access to the inside lane and the last few exits to Sarnia and Point Edward before leaving the country.

“So you have to cut out on the highway, go past the trucks and then cut back in to get onto the local road – and it’s dangerous because the trucks block the highway,” she said.

“There’s calls every day about that,” Lambton OPP Sgt. Chris Millward responded.

Millward said it’s an issue officers discuss regularly at the start of their shifts and there are dedicated traffic patrols in the area.

“It was a problem even before the bridge construction,” he said. “It’s every day ongoing.”

Truckers can be confused at times about local lanes versus toll lanes, Millward added, but officers can lay charges such as improper use of a border approach lane.

Louie Mele, the board’s vice-chairperson, said officials have discussed installing a Jersey barrier along the local lane in that area, but costs are a factor. Leaver-Luciani wanted to bring the issue to the attention of local city and provincial police, politicians and bridge officials.

Point Edward Deputy Mayor Greg Grimes, filling in for the mayor Thursday, also noted some tractor-trailers leave the highway and drive through the village trying to bypass the slowdown. Millward asked residents to call in complaints with identifiable markers so they can talk to the truckers and potentially issue tickets.

In the wake of a recent stabbing, Leaver-Luciani asked about violence and whether knives and guns are becoming more prevalent in Point Edward.

“There is no crime like that at all. There’s zero,” Millward said. “Family disputes, stuff like that, but . . . we don’t get a lot of calls about weapons and stuff like that.”

Three teens were hurt in a stabbing outside a Sarnia convenience store last Friday, and an 18-year-old faces charges after what Sarnia police called violent assault in Canatara Park Saturday.

As for the issue of loud vehicles, Millward said they’ve set up a focused patrol, including on foot and bikes, on the main road leading to the park and have talked to several people in the area.

“Going over things – requirements and rules with exhaust and noise and lights and stuff like that,” he said.

Point Edward’s OPP detachment, with a staff sergeant and 10 officers, enforces the village’s noise bylaws, its website says.

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@ObserverTerry