A Tilbury woman is hoping putting a crosswalk in front of Tilbury District High School will prevent another family from suffering the same tragedy hers did.
Since 2017, Martina Roach has been petitioning for a safer crossing option in front of the high school and now her wish will be coming true.
Roach gathered hundreds of signatures in support of the project and made an emotional plea to council late last year, explaining the need for a crosswalk on the busy section of road at Jeffrey Street and Helen Street — across Queen Street.
Her passion for the project stemmed from a personal loss. Roach's nephew Morgan passed away in 2017 after being struck by a car as he was crossing a street in Leamington on his way to work. He was two weeks shy of his 19th birthday.
Since then she has worked with local councillors to bring a crosswalk to the area, in hopes of preventing another family from going through what hers has gone through after Morgan's passing.
"It was a huge relief by the whole community that we're getting one and that the kids are going to be safe. For me personally, it's just a huge achievement," Roach said. "Especially with losing my nephew. It just makes me happy knowing that the kids in this community are going to be safe crossing the street."
Her efforts first started when she approached councillor Mark Authier, asking why there was no crosswalk on such a highly used roadway. Her biggest concern was that many vehicles in the area are coming from a 90 kilometre per hour zone and are unaware of the upcoming school zone. With hundreds of students walking the street every day, she called it an "accident waiting to happen."
"From there I came up with a petition and asked Mark if I could go around handing it out, he said absolutely. During this time he was also trying to bring it the attention of the council," Roach explained.
According to Roach, the petition got over 500 signatures in a month. The request was brought before council in November 2018 and the municipality brought somebody in to study the traffic flow in the area and see if a crosswalk was needed. She said with the help of Authier as well as councillor Melissa Harrigan, the crosswalk was put in the proposed 2019 budget and ultimately approved.
"I really believe that if you see something that needs to change, to believe in yourself and stick with it and don't give up," she said. "It might seem hard and impossible, but it's not."
Now Roach hopes that the crosswalk will bring "absolute safety" to the next generation of students and remind drivers to slow down. Although Morgan's mother is still shocked and angered over what happened to her son, Roach said she knows his death will not be in vain.
"She's still upset about that but, she's just happy for the fact that at least this is bringing up the attention of our family to help maybe some other family not go through what we're going through," she said.
The crosswalk is scheduled to be installed in time for the new school year in September.
Roach said it's hard to put into words how happy she is about the outcome. She adds that the first thing she plans to do when the crosswalk is complete is to sharpie a small message for Morgan on it.
"I know he'd be really proud of me," she said. "I know that he'd be really really proud."