School Zone Policy Update Part 1
Motion
That Council direct Staff to present options at a Governance and Priorities Committee Meeting to make enforceable 30km/h speed limit signs in high-risk pedestrian areas such as near schools.
Sources
That Council direct Staff to present options at a Governance and Priorities Committee Meeting to make enforceable 30km/h speed limit signs in high-risk pedestrian areas such as near schools.
further? Yeah, I hear. I register the objection. I share a number of the concerns. I voted in favor. But I do hear that there may be. Some things we haven't considered or some avenues we haven't explored. So I'm happy to have a report come back. I'm hearing there's other jurisdictions, Sanich Duncan, et cetera, that we can draw from to learn from. So I'm going to support the report, but I am very skeptical because. If we are going to create new restrictions for drivers, we have to figure out a way to enforce it. And that would require saying to the RCMP, I'm not seeing school zone traffic high priority for an IMRCMP right now, and. That would require us to negotiate with them. Thank you. All
Guestelbrook after council premium. Thank you, you, worship it. The struggle is I don't want to restrict drivers from going 50. To now down to 30, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's unreasonable. And when we do that, we put up. A 30. Per hour. Sign. Whereas we would be taking down the sign that clearly shows the two children and the 30 below. It if that's the case. I do not see that as a benefit, because I think people are much more apt to speed but if they see that this is actually a school area, They're much more. Anxious to be careful because there are children present and often if they're short or whatever. And you can't necessarily see them above. The dash and that kind of thing. So for me, I understand what Councilor Castlebrook is trying to do, and I appreciate that with great respect. However. I would prefer to see us leave the school zone. Signs up. And if we can leave them at 30, because then we know that during the school hours. Five days a week at least. It gives the students coverage and the families that live in that area, gives them a sense of safety. If the RCMP are saying no to the 30, at least for goodness sakes, leave. The sign up showing the children so that people know there are children in this area. Or something creative to that extent. I'm sorry. I just can't support it the way it is with just a. 30
Councilor Thorpe. Thank you, your worship. I think councilor Smear's suggestion. Just now is an excellent one, and that is to refer this to the Public Safety Committee and I'm not sure if we need a motion to proceed in that direction. I'm not prepared to support. The motion that's on the floor from councilor Gusselbrook, because I think it's moving away from the initial. Topic that we were talking about. School zone policy. And this potentially opens the door to changing speed limits and other areas of the city and creating a new bylaw and the resulting. Difficulties associated with that. So I think that's too broad sweeping a brush, and I will not support that. However. I would welcome input from the public safety committee. And hear what they have in terms of thoughts on this. Thank you. Ms. Guerry, given there's a motion on the floor. I
We had a report. We understood what the issues were with great respect. Moving the city towards instituting a 30 kilometer zone strikes me as overkill. I hate to use that language. The reality is that a law that can't be enforced is a bad law. We have enough trouble now in complaints about the limited abilities the RCMP to enforce all kinds of other laws, whether they be. Under the criminal code or their motor vehicle Act. Given the public response to this, a couple of emails is not going to move my position on it. So I won't be supporting the motion. And if it does pass, I will certainly. Support, referring it to the public safety committee instead of expecting, frankly, our overworked staff, particularly in the transportation area. That we know is not able to respond in a timely way to many concerns and complaints that are substantial. I'm not prepared to burden them with further. Items on their already lengthy agenda, particularly after the tax
of 30 is a big deal, and I think it behooves us to do a little bit more due diligence on what are the options. There definitely need to be more clarity on what exactly does enforcement entail. What are the parameters? Around how often? This 30 km. Is there no means to be able to restrict the time of it? These are all things that I think that having more information. Is important and seeing what other jurisdictions are doing. For making. A pretty substantial move. And so if this delays the process by a couple of months, something that's already been outstanded by eight months or eight years. I think that we can afford a little bit extra