Deer sign receives thumbs-down from Oak Bay council

Marion Cumming holds a sign she hopes the municipality will place along Foul Bay Road, which has a lot of deer crossings. She presented the sign to Oak Bay council last week.

Christopher Sun/News staff

By Christopher Sun - Victoria News
Published: October 29, 2013 3:00 PM
Updated: October 29, 2013 3:38 PM
An Oak Bay deer lover hopes a road sign she designed and had created will be placed along a low-speed stretch of Foul Bay Road, telling drivers to slow down.

Marion Cumming presented a red-and-white sign reading, “Please Slow Down” with a picture of a deer on it, to Oak Bay council at its Oct. 15 meeting. She admits having driven faster than the 30 km/h speed limit on Foul Bay Road between Oak Bay Avenue and Fairfield Road in past, until learning it is a heavily used pathway for the animals.

“When I found out it is a deer crossing, I slowed down,” Cumming said, adding that most people speed along it. “People don’t think there is any reason to slow down to 30 km/h.”

Cumming spent $125 to create the sign. If people knew there were deer in the area, she said, they would slow down and follow the speed limit. However, council wasn’t enthusiastic about adopting it for use.
“We already have deer warning signs on some of our roads,” said Mayor Nils Jensen. “We always try to have standardized signs to limit visual pollution.”

Jensen later said it is a challenge creating and placing signs, because too many can cause confusion and often leads to them being ignored.

While Jensen recalled seeing a deer caution sign on Cadboro Bay Road, he couldn't recall seeing one on Foul Bay.

Cumming said another sign would add something different to catch people’s attention. She also spoke to Oak Bay’s engineering department and was told the design and placement of any signs are ultimately up to council.

“The next step is I will go back to council,” she said.
reporter@vicnews.com