Safety for pedestrians on 2nd Dug Hill Road was raised during public input at Quinte West city council’s meeting on Wednesday.
This stems from the fatal hit-and-run incident on that road in November.
Fourteen-year-old Seryn Lazzaro was walking with her 12-year-old friend when Lazzaro was struck by a car and suffered serious head and lung injuries.
Lazzaro was airlifted to Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital and later passed away.
Speaking during public input was Diane Lyndon, the grandmother of the 12-year-old girl identified as Sierra Maltby.
Lyndon gave her personal recount of the events that happened on November 17.
“At 7:40 p.m. on 2nd Dug Hill Road in Trenton, I got the call nobody wants. The frantic voice of one of my twin granddaughters, watching them put her very best friend in an ambulance,” Lyndon recounted to council.
“Savannah (Sierra’s twin sister) pleaded with me to meet them at the hospital and to ‘pray Grammy pray.’ Arriving at the hospital, I see the grave faces of our two families, the Lazzaros and the Maltbys. I rushed to hold her twin Sierra, who bravely called 911 and administered CPR until the ambulance got there. Twelve years old, getting her dear friend to breathe again.”
Lyndon said the girls were walking towards Walmart on a section of road where there is no sidewalk.
“Signs are for the cars that obey and walkers need a safe path. Clearly, as we devastatingly found out on November 17, drivers don’t always obey the signs. Then life is lost.”
Lyndon says as the area around 2nd Dug Hill Road continues to get built up with new subdivisions, safety should also be top of mind when expanding along that road.
“Concerns have been voiced for years by the residents of those subdivisions and yet were unheard and unheeded. Well, can you hear us now?” Lyndon said to council.
“As taxpaying citizens we are all entitled to safe roads. As swift as those houses are being built and lived in, so can sidewalks and lighting be installed making it safe. For all who must use 2nd Dug Hill Road, 2025 is too late for promises. No other family should have to endure the searing pain of loss our families are suffering.”
Council was presented a petition calling for immediate action to make 2nd Dug Hill Road safe for pedestrians.
“I say to you along with the signatures of over 1500 and counting and the people here today, we the people demand sidewalks and lighting now, not in 2025 as you proposed, it’s already too late,” Lyndon pleaded to council.
“Do this so Seryn didn’t lose her life in vain.”
The railway overpass at 2nd Dug Hill Road in Quinte West. (Photo: John Spitters / Quinte News)
Following Lyndon’s speech to council, Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison says he understood the pain that the families were going through. He said due to the ongoing investigation, he would not be making any comments.
Quinte West resident, Manuel Rodrigues, also spoke of the safety concerns surrounding the road, specifically 2nd Dug Hill Road from Telephone Road to Carrying Place.
“Every time one of those subdivisions is approved or discussed, Telephone Road comes into the picture,” Rodrigues says.
“It comes into the picture because of its overall condition. Lack of sidewalks, lack of lighting, lack of crosswalks, increased traffic and no shoulder on the road.”
Rodrigues says he has addressed council three separate times over the last two decades bringing attention to the issues surrounding the road.
He read a snippet from a previous time he reached out to council.
“As you know traffic increased greatly on 2nd Dug Hill Road over the last two decades as approximately 10 subdivisions have been built, approved, in the area. It’s more like a dozen. I also think 2nd Dug Hill Road does not meet any Ontario road standards. Pushing traffic to 2nd Dug Hill Road will increase the chance of death or injury to individuals utilizing 2nd Dug Hill Road,” Rodrigues read from the email.
Manuel Rodrigues, a Quinte West resident, spoke on the issues of safety surrounding 2nd Dug Hill Road. November 29, 2023. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Another resident, Alexandria Salming, spoke about the different kinds of people using the side of the road.
“The sides of the road, very inadequate,” Salming said to council.
“People can trip and it’s not level and I’ve seen people on bikes, walking or even taking their dogs and there isn’t enough space.”
Fifty-one-year-old Dean Potter of Quinte West was charged with failure to stop at an accident resulting in bodily harm in the investigation surrounding the hit and run.
He is set to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on December 14, 2023.
A GoFundMe page for Seryn’s parents has raised over $26,000 as of November 29, 2023.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the article said the two girls were walking on a partial sidewalk when they were walking on a stretch of road where there was no sidewalk. Quinte News apologizes for this error.
