Last year there were 39 collisions reported at the intersection. People are doing 80 to 90 to 100 down those lanes. As well, people turning south onto Merivale from Baseline east sometimes head for the wrong side of the median, right into oncoming traffic. Mr. Olmstead was once behind a car that drove into traffic on the wrong side of the median. Kenora Ross, a Carleton University student waiting on Baseline for a bus, said she'd had a few close calls with speeding drivers.
People just seem to have a short fuse nowadays.
Ms. Ross has walked past carnage from accidents in the area. You see the sawdust on the road and you know it's been put there to absorb the blood. Another pedestrian said she almost saw three or four accidents yesterday morning. They speed through. Mr. McMillen, who usually drives through the intersection 12 to 15 times a day with rental cars, has devised his own strategy to avoid collisions.