'Start of something special': Riders use garbage bag day to reflect on 2024
Nov 11, 2024
The locker room was full of optimism for the future of the organization on Sunday.
While students are preparing for new classes and teachers as the school year approaches, drivers in Regina should be preparing for new speed limits in school zones.
Over the summer, crews with the City of Regina have been changing out the 40 kilometres-per-hour school zone signs for the new 30 km/h ones. As of Sunday, the project will be finished.
“The goal of the lower speed limit is essentially to reduce the possibility of a collision. We want to reduce the chances that will happen, and if an accident does happen, it’s less catastrophic at 30 kilometres an hour versus 40 kilometres an hour,” explained Faisal Kalim, manager of traffic engineering with the City of Regina.
City council decided to make the change this spring. Kalim said it was based on an engineering analysis done from standards provided by a national body. According to Kalim, 14 of the 15 municipalities in the city’s review had school zones at a 30 km/h speed limit.
The hours the limit is in effect are different, too: It’s now between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Some school zones are also shorter than they had been before, and Kalim said that’s because longer school zones have lower compliance rates.
“We want to make sure that motorists do slow down at that critical point and that they don’t get frustrated with driving in the slower zone and end up speeding up near the end of the zone,” said Kalim.
He said, with the new slower speed, on average it’ll take a driver four extra seconds to get through the school zone.
The school zones on Albert Street near Regina Christian School and on Dewdney Avenue near Luther College High School have been removed.
“The priority with the school zone project is to be consistent, so we want to make sure that drivers that are in a school zone between 7 and 7, they slow down regardless,” Kalim said. “And those particular school zones did not warrant speed restrictions when we did our engineering analysis.”
Also, a bylaw has also been changed to make U-turns illegal in school zones.