Petition calls for increased safety measures on infamous stretch of road in Peterborough County

Since 2010, there have been 10 fatalities on County Road 507 between Gooderham and Flynn’s Corners in the Municipality of Trent Lakes.

Eight of those fatalities involved  motorcyclists with the latest death happening on Oct. 10 when a motorcycle collided head-on with an SUV.

The motorcyclist, a 54 year old man from Scarborough, was killed.

“Some of these roads need to be made safer,” Trent Lakes mayor Janet Clarkson told Peterborough County Council on Oct. 21.

“We cannot have these death traps.”

Clarkson called the 507 ‘an absolute speedway’ and that it was being advertised as such.

The scenic route is popular with motorcyclists, with some even posting videos on YouTube showing travel at excessive speeds of more than 170 km/h.

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Clarkson told council that photo radar could be a solution, but that would need to be rolled out by the municipality and not the OPP.

Trent Lakes Police Service Board chair John Wright tells Global News Peterborough a meeting was held between the board and the OPP last week.

“The OPP are going to put it as part of their action plan. The next business plan cycle. See if they can come up with a viable and sustainable solution of some sort to cut down on the number of accidents and fatalities on the 507,” he said.

“They’re looking at making some areas along the 507 a community safety zone,” added Peterborough County OPP Const. Joe Ayotte.  “That will bring in steeper fines for speeding and may lower the speed limit in some areas.”

0:35 Motorcyclist dies following collision on County Road 507 in Trent Lakes

Ayotte says there’s been 180 to 200 collisions along that road in the last 10 years.

“It’s a problem area,” Ayotte said. “So it’s going to take a collective effort from everyone to keep these roads safe.”

An online petition on Change.org is calling on the municipality and OPP to step in and do something about the excessive speeders on the 507.

As of late day Tuesday, the petition had received more than 400 signatures.