Parents concerned about safety due to tall snow ridges at Regina school

Children should feel safe on their walk to and from school.

But some parents in one Regina neighbourhood feel that snow ridges are causing a safety hazard for their children as they make the trek to school.

Cristina Floricel is a parent at École Wascana Plains School. She said the intersections and streets surrounding the school are already dangerously busy, and the tall snow ridges make it worse.

“It’s really hectic every single day,” she said. “I’ve seen incidents where kids, when they get the green light, they would jump on the street right away.”

Read more:

• Regina faces complaints as policy, budget limit residential snow plowing
• Regina Public Schools sees change rooms outcome as a positive
• NDP, parents call for provincial funding after EA layoffs

Floricel herself has had close calls, and said she’s nearly been hit by vehicles.

She’s concerned that a child could be next, and said removing the snow ridges would help.

“But that’s kind of the last part that gets addressed. The main streets do (get cleared), but not the side streets,” she said.

Some snow ridges on the residential street surrounding the school range from a few feet to well over six feet tall.

Snow ridges on the residential streets make parking and seeing children behind them difficult. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)

Snow ridges in front of the school cause problems with parking. Parents try to park as close to the ridges as possible, but sometimes the snow piles still block the flow of traffic. Kids then also have to climb over the ridges to cross the street.

Floricel said she’s voiced her concerns about the busy area to the city before. She suggested a sign to prevent drivers from turning right on red lights and even traffic control from police, on top of removing snow ridges.

Jeff Morrow is another parent with similar concerns.

He said pick-up and drop-off is such a busy time, and navigating the narrow streets is a recipe for disaster.

“Everything’s backed up,” he explained. “Kids are trying to get across the street and because it’s so congested, and so many things are going on. Nobody can see anything at that time.”

Jeff Morrow says the snow ridges cause distractions for drivers as they navigate parking and narrow roads. (Jeff Morrow/submitted)

He said the driving and parking challenges distract drivers.

“Then they’re not always watching for kids. That’s my concern,” he said.

Morrow said he’s also reached out to the city but didn’t hear a response until he messaged the city through its Facebook page.

“It’s a little dangerous, in my opinion, so that’s why I’ve been trying to reach out to them, but nothing so far,” he said.

City’s policy for school zones

According to the city, some snow ridges surrounding the school will be removed.

“Snow ridges in the proximity of schools that present a safety risk will be removed by the end of the week,” the city said in an emailed statement.

The city didn’t explain what the “safety risks” are, however.

As for the residential areas that parents raised concerns about, only some ridges will be removed.

“Snow ridges in residential streets that are not in the near proximity of schools will not be removed,” the city’s email read, noting that residents can call Service Regina to notify the city about any snow piles they deem unsafe.

According to the city’s winter maintenance policy, “snow is completely pushed away from school unloading zones on both sides of the roads and evenly stacked in the form of snow ridges.”

Those ridges are picked up at a later time and hauled away.

City of Regina doing city-wide plow

Last week, Regina was hit with around 17 centimetres of snow over a two-day period.

Winter crews began a plow of all residential streets on Monday.

According to a release from the city, some narrow residential streets and denser neighbourhoods may only get an ice shaving instead of grading to avoid on-street parking challenges due to snow ridges.

In a previous interview, Chris Warren, the City of Regina’s director of roadways and transportation, said snow ridges are an ongoing challenge.

He said if crews were to plow all the residential streets, it would create large snow ridges in parking lanes and in front of homes.

“The current policy allows for those snow ridges to be placed in the parking lanes when plowing residential roads and then to remain in the parking lane for the remainder of the season,” he said.

“With our current policy and our current budget, we typically would not remove snow ridges on residential roads.”

He said the city tries to minimize the use of snow ridges.

“Once we create those snow ridges, then we’re dealing with circumstances where residents sometimes wish that those snow ridges could be removed,” Warren said.

Regina Public Schools aware of the issue

In a statemen, Regina Public Schools said the safety of it’s staff and students is taken very seriously.

“In winter, especially after a significant snowfall, there is a lot of teamwork involved in clearing access to the school and ensuring that motorist sightlines are not impeded and drivers can see students and staff and that they, in turn, can see the vehicles,” the statement read.

The school division said it works to clear snow on its property, but depends on the City of Regina to clear snow in school zones.

With Wascana Plains specifically, the school also hires a contractor who is responsible for keeping the area clear of snow.

All three parties are working together to improve the situation.

Jeff Morrow says he pushes snow in front of his house as much as he can, but snow ridges continue to be put in front of his home. (Jeff Morrow/submitted)