WINNIPEG – Traffic activist group Wise Up Winnipeg, which is better known for disputing photo radar tickets, says the city is neglecting children’s safety after it found 206 signs were missing from city school zones.
“They have clearly shown they have no regard for true safety,” said Todd Dube with Wise Up Winnipeg.
It says more than half of Winnipeg’s schools are missing school zone signs with most being absent for over four years.
Wise Up Winnipeg says it provided that list of missing signs to Winnipeg’s Public Works Department 10 months ago and says nothing’s been done.
The city acknowledged it has received and reviewed the list and took appropriate action on some school area signs as a result of the information provided. But the city admitted other school area signs were not adjusted because a significant number of them may be affected by the new rules that will arrive along with reduced speed limits in school zones.
A provincial spokesperson says currently it’s not mandatory for the city to put up school zone signs but that will change on Monday.
A new law will come into effect, forcing municipalities to put up three signs, a sign indicting a school zone ahead, another one showing you’re in the school zone and another sign indicting you’ve left the school zone.
The new law will also allow cities to reduce the speed limit from 50 to 30 kilometres an hour, something the city says it plans to do in some school zones.
While the signs are a good thing, Manitoba Public Insurance says motorists shouldn’t have to depend on signage to know when they need to slow down.
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