Drowning victims’ families applaud new beach safety warning system

The Bruce County beachside town has unveiled a detection system that instructs users when it’s safe to swim. CTV London’s Scott Miller reports.

Canada’s first traffic light beach safety system is finally operational at Kincardine’s Station Beach.

It’s a real time warning system that very well could have saved Graham Hancock’s brother’s life. Micheal Hancock drowned 18 years ago in the waters off Kincardine’s shores trying to save his daughter’s life.

“He managed to save her, but it got the better of him. So, any initiative that can make the public safer and help improve the safety of the beach is a big deal for me and my family,” said Graham.

Aleem Ramji drowned in Kincardine in 2020, pulling his nieces from the waters of Lake Huron before succumbing. His family was at Friday’s beach light unveiling.

“He jumped in to save them. He did save them. He had a hold of both of them. Bystanders heard and then came,” said Ramji’s Aunt, Safia Day, who travelled to today’s beach light ceremony from Nova Scotia.

“They were able to throw the buoy out to the girls. The girls were able to come back onto the pier, but my sister watched my nephew take his last breath.”

In total, six people have drowned, and seven more have almost drowned off Kincardine’s shores since 2008. In response, Kincardine has created no swim zones near their south pier and adding safety equipment.

The installation of Canada’s first smart beach warning light, a system that uses predictive modelling powered by both historical and real time wind and wave strength, automatically changes traffic lights at the entrance to Kincardine’s beach to let beachgoers know if it’s wise to enter the water or not.

“It is a symbol that is used in every town and city across Canada and the world. Red, yellow and green. Stop, warning, or you’re good to go,” said Kincardine mayor Ken Craig.

“It is real time technology, tracking changing conditions, adapting to understand what’s happening right now. No one has to run from an office someplace to put up a different coloured flag.”

It’s a long time coming for Meagan Fair, co-founder of Kincardine Beach Safety, a citizen’s group who’ve been pushing for beach safety improvements for the past three years.

“There’s no manual intervention at all. There’s no person that is changing the light from yellow to red to green. This is all going to be automated now,” said Fair.

“So, being able to respond immediately as the weather changes, the light will change. People just need to now build up that habit of checking before they go to the beach.”

Neighbouring Saugeen Shores is looking into installing it’s own traffic light beach warning system.

Aleem Ramji’s aunt is pushing her community in Nova Scotia to adopt the beach safety technology, as well.

“It doesn’t stop here. With my council in Nova Scotia, this is what I’m promoting as well,” she said.

“Not just Kincardine can do this. We can do this at Peggy’s Cove. We’ve lost a lot of lives of Peggy’s Cove. The government has taken initiatives. But again, more initiatives need to happen.”

Craig added that the technology is specific to each waterfront that it serves, allowing it to expand everywhere.

“That is the beauty of this. It is specific to each waterfront that it serves. It’s not a model that comes from 100 miles away, or 12 hours later. It’s right here, right now. Any community, anywhere,” he said.

Along with the unveiling of the traffic light beach warning system, Kincardine unveiled two memorial benches, to honour the six beach visitors who lost their lives in the town’s waters since 2008.

“I think it’s a great initiative. In the absence of a full-time lifeguard, it provides indications to unsuspecting visitors that the water is either safe to swim in, needs a lot of caution, or shouldn’t be swimming at all,” said Hancock.

“People have drowned in Kincardine and lost their lives. So, a big part of what we’re doing here today is to make sure that never happens again. We don’t want another family to have to leave here without a family member,” said Fair.