A year after boy was killed by dump truck, Overbrook residents are still waiting for new safety measures

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“You see really, really young children running around, completely unsupervised, running across the street hardly looking both ways,” Card said. “It’s just going to happen again.”

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With police at the scene late Wednesday Oct. 15, 2025, the dump truck involved in the collision that killed a five-year-old boy is towed away from the scene. Photo by Kathleen Sauder /Handout

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Traffic calming ‘a process,’ local councillor says

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According to Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King, whose ward includes the Overbrook community, it’s not always as simple as just asking the city for speed bumps or other improvements to be installed.

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“I understand the impatience of residents who want to see more traffic-calming measures, because it’s almost an epidemic in terms of people speeding through neighbourhoods,” he told the Ottawa Citizen.

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He said Presland Road was already on the city’s radar even prior to Oct. 15, 2025, and is currently undergoing a traffic study, with delineators — the flex poles bolted into the middle of the road — installed in 2024 in response to community safety concerns.

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But in 2025, the delineators were removed to accommodate ongoing construction. Since the poles are seasonal and are typically reinstalled each spring, they returned to Presland Road in May 2026.

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“And because of that, there wasn’t a full evaluation,” he said. “We want to still get a full evaluation to see, OK, do these measures fully work (and) are they actually reducing speeds in something that is quantifiable and measurable, and if they’re not, then what’s the next step?”

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The traffic evaluation will continue to review speeds, collect data and evaluate the measures to determine if more traffic-calming measures, such as speed bumps, should be installed.

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“I wouldn’t say you’re waiting 10 years for a (traffic-calming) measure, but there is a process, and the process also involves evaluation,” he said.

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The 2025 construction on Presland Road was also to implement measures to improve pedestrian safety, including a new concrete sidewalk along Presland Road and Hardy Avenue between Frances Street and Bernard Street, new crosswalks and curb ramps at the Frances Street all-way stop, as well as a street reduction width near Hardy Avenue from 8.5 to seven metres.

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But residents say the delineators and recent construction upgrades haven’t been effective in slowing traffic, with cars going at high speeds preferring to run over the delineators rather than slow down.

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“The (delineators) in the middle … that doesn’t stop anybody, so they hit it with their cars,” Sauder said.

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But, King said road safety goes beyond traffic calming, adding he directed city staff to investigate the risks associated with bringing construction vehicles into residential neighbourhoods. His formal inquiry submitted one week after the Oct. 15, 2025 collision asked staff who regulates these construction vehicles, what are the safety protocols contractors must follow near schools and parks, as well as whether near-miss collision data is tracked.

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Now, he’s calling on the city to better plan construction vehicle access and haul routes, consider restrictions during school travel periods, enforce traffic control measures and identify dangerous conditions before a collision happens.

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The Presland Road community will also soon be thrust back into construction, King said, with Presland Park currently undergoing the design phases of a renewal project. Pedestrian safety, he promised, won’t be an afterthought, and designs will consider how families access the park, including from Presland Road.

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“We cannot assess the safety of these projects solely by looking at the finished infrastructure. We must also consider how residents, particularly children, are protected throughout construction,” he said.

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