It takes about 10 minutes for Danielle Wilkie's children to walk between home and school — but their mother insists the school provide them with a courtesy bus.
For Wilkie, seeing her children walk to school is not an option because of dangerous drivers along Wyandotte Street.
"Between all the accidents that have happened on Wyandotte Street and how busy it is...Wyandotte is just a terrible street," she said. "So even though they're in walking distance, there's literally no way they are walking."
Wilkie witnessed one of those collisions up close on March 9, 2024 at approximately 6:20 p.m. Two vehicles were involved in a rollover collision at the corner of Wyandotte Street and Windsor Avenue.
"I did go up to the accident to make sure everybody was okay," said Wilkie.
According to Windsor police, the collision resulted in minor injuries but officers could not confirm exactly which driver was injured.
That was not the only rollover collision which happened that evening on Wyandotte Street.
About an hour and a half earlier, police were called to the corner of Wyandotte and Pelissier streets for another rollover collision. No one was injured but one driver was charged with failing to stop at a red light.
When asked how often she observes dangerous driving on Wyandotte Street, Wilkie said "all the time."
"I can literally hear them from here," said Wilkie, and she stood in front of her home approximately 200 metres from the corner of Wyandotte and Windsor Avenue. "You can hear them revving up, racing to see who's going to beat each other to the next green light. It's a crazy street. Someone needs to do something."
Joseph Gonzalves works in a store approximately 50 metres from the corner of Wyandotte Street and Pelissier Street — the site of the first rollover collision Saturday evening.
"I heard a thunderous bang which sent shockwaves through my body. I just see a car come flying through the intersection like a corkscrew and land on its roof," said Gonzalves. "The lady was screaming, 'My children, my children.' Before you know it, the paramedics, ambulance and fire trucks were here."
Gonzalves estimates he witnesses a traffic collision about once a month in the area where he works.
"I don't think most of the people adhere to the speed limits. I see people doing 70, 80 and 90 [kilometres per hour] in some sections," he said.
According to Const. Adam Young of the Windsor Police Service, traffic congestion along Wyandotte Street has increased in recent years.
"Distracted driving is causing more of our calls where people are concerned with their cellular devices or just being distracted by worrying about getting that location on time," said Young.
Young added he finds many drivers are not leaving themselves enough "stopping distance" and engaging in "rushed and erratic driving scenarios."
"The biggest thing a driver could do is to simply leave earlier. When they're going to an appointment and it's a 10-minute drive time and they have to be there at eight o'clock, they leave at 7:50," said Young.
He continued, "Leave five minutes earlier. Leave at 7:45. Slow down a little bit. A lot of these accidents will go away when people just drive a little more caution, space and time."
As for last weekend's rollover collisions, Young said that is an extremely rare occurrence.
We don't see a lot of rollover collisions very often. So to have two on the same street within two blocks and within an hour, it hardly ever happens," said Young. "Unfortunately, it happened this weekend."
