Lower speed limit not coming soon to school zones
City hall asks second committee to study safety implications, costs
Changes to speed limits are unlikely in Regina school zones before next fall, as a second City of Regina committee is being tasked with exploring school zone safety.
Last April, Regina city council moved to strike a committee to explore the same — including speed, signage and signals.
At Wednesday’s executive council meeting almost 17 months later, city councillors agreed that a second committee should pick up where the first left off.
The original committee was to report back with recommendations in spring 2017. “The mandate of the first committee has run its course. They really can’t talk about budget implications and engineering design,” said Mayor Michael Fougere.
While the committee did review other cities’ school zones and best practices for pedestrian safety, its structure did not permit exploring engineering specifics — including which school zones should be prioritized, and where to locate highly visible crosswalks.
There are nearly 70 schools in varied locations in the city, and “a school in a residential area will have a different set of criteria than what you have on Dewdney Avenue, as an example,” said Fougere.
The new committee should submit recommendations early next year, to be implemented ideally by the next school year.
The first committee included city staff, parents and representatives from school boards, police, SGI, CAA and the Saskatchewan Safety Council — some of which will be part of the new order, said Fougere.
It was “quite a broad committee,” said Karen Gasmo, executive director for transportation and utilities.
“It didn’t have necessarily the right members that were in place to focus on what we can manage from a city’s perspective.”
She said the next committee will be more focused on outcomes.
The first committee supports reducing the current 40 kilometre-san-hour speed limit to 30 km/h in school zones, as is the case in Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary.
It also supports thick-striped “zebra” paint and overhead flashing lights at crosswalks to increase visibility.
Fougere said “it’s possible” that changes could be implemented by next school year, depending on what’s recommended.
The changes are all about safety. According to SGI, there were 1,377 speeders in Regina school zones in July — 1.21 per cent of the vehicles that had driven through. The fastest car travelled 78 km/h.
In June, there were 1,946 traffic violations — 1.31 per cent of the vehicles. The fastest was driving 93 km/h.
Several city councillors have witnessed or else heard from constituents on issues relating to school zones.
Jerry Flegel pointed out that people swerve to avoid the speed bumps in front of MacNeill School.
Sharron Bryce has heard from residents who live near schools, whose driveways are blocked during pickup and drop-off. The students’ parents are sometimes verbally aggressive toward them.
Mike O’Donnell, who proposed the initial city council motion, said he’s heard of “a few close fist fights.” Meanwhile, drivers will sometimes speed past idle cars in school zones, which creates a danger for children walking across a street.
Fougere said he gets calls “all the time” from people worried about their children’s safety.
“This is a big issue for parents and it should be for all drivers. They should realize that they’re in a school zone and there are young kids crossing the street or near the street; they should be very, very careful,” said Fougere.