Crosswalk safety was a common theme of community information gathering sessions on policing held last week in Antigonish town and county. (File photo)

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Crosswalk safety.
That was the most universal issue coming out of the three community information gathering sessions on policing held last week in Antigonish town and county.
There were supposed to be four meetings but one scheduled for the Four Valley Fire Hall in Maryvale produced no public turnout.
The other three meetings, all held Feb. 8 at 7 p.m., were held at the Antigonish Town Hall, Heatherton Parish Hall and the St. Joseph’s Lakeside Community Centre.
“How can we make crosswalks better?” Jack MacPherson, Town of Antigonish councillor and co-chair of gathering sessions, asked, noting it was a constant refrain he heard at the Town Hall meeting.
MacPherson said suggestions from the meeting included painting the lines more often and better lighting around the crosswalks. He added that, for him, if often comes down to more education and responsibility from both drivers and pedestrians.
“First thing is drivers have to have their vehicles under control at all times… that’s a given,” MacPherson said. “But also, pedestrians, even when they go on a crosswalk they have to make sure that the driver of the vehicle sees them. Just because you’re crossing a crosswalk doesn’t give you a 100 percent right-of-way. Look both ways because that’s a two-ton vehicle and if that hits you, you’re going to get hurt.”
MacPherson said the suggestion that will be taken from the meeting to the RCMP is more education and added that the police and licensing committee for the town, will be conducting a campaign on crosswalk safety.
Jerome Grant, County of Antigonish councillor, shared the chairing duties with MacPherson for the gathering sessions.
He said crosswalks came up in the rural meetings as well and added another common theme from the Heatherton and St. Joseph’s meetings was a greater police presence.
“Seeing cruisers more on the back roads rather than just on the Trans-Canada,” Grant said.
Grant said other issues which came up and will be brought back to the RCMP ranged from straightforward questions such as how many constables are on the force to the more complicated issues such as information released on investigation follow-ups and child exploitation.
Grant expanded on the inquires.
“People would like to know how many constables there are and do they have areas they are responsible for,” he said. “How do we compare with other areas? Are we over-policed or under-policed? For example, if Inverness has the same population, do we have the same policing?
“Child exploitation in the county, that came up in both sessions,” Grant said, adding the suggestion would be for RCMP to do some education in the schools.
Highway speeding, especially from bigger vehicles, was also another topic Grant noted.
He said, overall the sessions were positive.
“No one was out bashing police so it was positive exercise and these were the common things that will probably be reflected in priorities of the police locally,” he said.
MacPherson and Grant will compile the comments, questions and concerns and bring them to the next police board meeting.