Homeowner fortifies yard with sand barrels amid decades of crashes while awaiting traffic lights

A Regina homeowner has turned his front lawn into a makeshift safety barrier after a car slammed into his house on Nov. 29, 2024.​

Ken Zerbin, who lives at the corner of Seventh Avenue North and Broad Street, had a vehicle come hit his home in November 2024, the second time in 25 years that a car has reached the house.

“The car was stopped mostly by a cedar tree,” Zerbin said. “It knocked some stucco off and bent up the drain pipe, but there was no structural damage on the house.”

Collisions at the intersection are so frequent he had to take matters into his own hands.

“There is an accident on this corner at least once a month, and we’ve lived here 25 years,” Zerbin said. “We have had five or six cars on our property, two of them have reached the house now.”​

Former neighbours who lived at the corner for 50 years told him they, too, had spent years pushing for a traffic signal.

“The former neighbours were the ones that told me they had lived here for 50 years, and while they were living there they were petitioning for traffic lights there,” Zerbin said.​

After the November crash, Zerbin decided he could not wait any longer for a permanent fix. In October 2025, he installed sand-filled barrels along the edge of his lawn as a temporary buffer between traffic and his house.

“It was a lot of work, and I did it in October while it was warm,” Zerbin said.​

His idea came after the city notified him that traffic lights were finally planned for the corner.

“So then the idea popped into my head… I got some barrels of sand in the holes I dug on the lawn, and at least for this winter, the house will be protected,” Zerbin said.​

“Once the traffic lights are up there shouldn’t be a crash,” he added.​

Neighbour Violet Hayes said the intersection is so hazardous she goes out of her way to steer clear of it, whether driving or walking.

“I can’t see why they don’t put a light or something on Seventh Avenue because it is used more than Sixth Avenue,” Hayes said.

“But look at Seventh with all the cars, buses and the school buses. It’s a busy street,” Hayes added.​

“I had an accident myself at that intersection,” Hayes said. “There were so many cars parked along the street, it is hard to see, you know. And this happened in summer, not even in winter. They should have traffic lights there.”

Hayes now chooses routes with existing signals.

“I always go down to Sixth Street that has traffic lights to avoid Seventh Ave,” Hayes said. “When I walk, I also avoid that intersection. I only use intersections with traffic lights.”​​

The corner has been the scene of serious crashes before.

CBC reported in October 2022, a 42-year-old woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries after being struck by a truck on Broad Street near 7th Avenue North.​

Zerbin believes a new school in the area helped tip the city’s decision toward finally installing signals.

“They are planning to put them in now, and I think what tipped the decision was when they built the new school,” Zerbin said. “I think the planners looked at it and said we need to have lights here for the school safety.”

For now, the intersection’s future remains unclear.

City officials did not confirm whether a traffic light will be installed by publication time. Residents are still waiting for answers and relying on their own measures in the meantime.