Photo: Google Street View

The pedestrian crossing identified in the letter.

A Salmon Arm Elementary School student’s letter to city council requesting a new crosswalk light impressed city councilors at a recent meeting.

At the Oct. 28 Salmon Arm City Council meeting, the council received a letter in its mail package from a Bastion Elementary School fifth-grade student named Luka Mae Larson.

In the letter, Larson said they walk to school every day and some cars do not stop at the crosswalk at 20/21 Street NE.

“I think it would be a good idea to put a traffic light there to let cars know that pedestrians are waiting to cross,” Larson said in the letter.

Larson concluded the letter by thanking the city council for its hard work in making the city safer.

The letter was a success at the Count’s council. Sylvia Lindgren calls it “the best kind of letter we get here.”

Lindgren praised how well written the letter was.

“This is a very well-written letter with a very good introduction to who they are and what the problem is, a suggested solution, and recognition of the hard work being done by the rest of the city staff and the city council,” he said.

He then asked if staff had more information about the crossing and if it would be a good letter to send to the traffic and safety committee.

Count. Kevin Flynn agreed that the letter should be sent to the committee and noted the effectiveness of pedestrian flashing lights on Okanagan Avenue.

“I would suggest that this is probably a very good location for one of the pedestrian flashers because I think it needs it here and I will fully support it,” he said.

Robert Niewenhuizen, director of engineering and public works, briefed council on a 2020 study conducted in partnership with ICBC that investigated the city’s pedestrian crossings.

“This particular location was identified for a rapid flash beacon proposal,” he said.

Niewenhuizen went on to say that his department is also preparing a report for the BC Vision Zero road safety grant and that this location will likely be recommended to council for additional safety measures.

A motion to send the letter to the traffic and safety committee for review was unanimously approved.