Regina may relax proposed school zone speed limit hours

There’s a chance the proposed speed limit reductions in Regina school zones won’t be in effect year-round.

The Traffic School Zone Safety Committee recommended banning U-turns and reducing the speed limit to 30 km/h every day of the year between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The current speed limit in Regina’s school zones is 40 km/h every day between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Councillor Mike O’Donnell admits because of his absence, the debate on the recommendations at the executive committee level was delayed from the summer until Wednesday. Over that time, O’Donnell said he received hundreds of responses from members of the public, pushing back against the speed limit reduction when not during school hours.

O’Donnell is asking the committee to review the option of reducing the speed limit to 30 km/h but only from Sept. 1 to June 30, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Monday to Friday is pretty much the normal, not for everybody, but the normal week, normal school days and it, I think, is logical,” said O’Donnell.

While councillors seemed open to relaxing some of the rules, others had concerns about increased traffic during rush hour at 5 p.m. and kids who take part in extracurricular activities after school or use the playgrounds during the summer. O’Donnell said at a certain hour, most teachers are gone and parents start to accept responsibility for their children.

Councillor John Findura was leaning toward 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., while Councillor Bob Hawkins agreed with the proposed hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Councillor Andrew Stevens asked about location-specific speed zones, explaining some schools and playgrounds are used more than others.

Councillor Barbara Young stepped in saying whatever is decided upon, the rules have to be simple and consistent in every school zone. O’Donnell agreed.

“Because you don’t have to think, oh is this the one where it’s slower, is this the one where I can do this, is this the one where it doesn’t matter on Sundays. That just doesn’t work,” said O’Donnell.

Councillor Jason Mancinelli raised the issue of signage and visibility, asking if it was possible to colour-code school zones by painting the curbs or streetlights to make it obvious to drivers they are entering a school zone.

There was not much discussion on those topics by the Traffic School Zone Safety Committee according to Norman Kyle, Director of Roadways and Transportation. He said the street lights are owned by SaskPower and the curbs would add an operational expense while not being very effective.

“The biggest problem is we’re a winter city in Canada and from the end of October to March the curbs aren’t always visible,” said Kyle.

An alternative option is to go with vertical infrastructure, adding reflective inserts to the signposts to make them more visible.

An audit will be done on every school zone and park area in Regina to figure out how to implement the recommendations, what makes sense, which areas need better signage and what the cost will be.

The report will be sent to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, then come back to council for further discussion in the spring.