Council approves lower speed limits for regional roads in school zones in Waterloo Region

On Wednesday night, Waterloo regional council approved lower speed limits for school zones on regional roads.

Thirty-one regional roads in school zones throughout the area that were previously 50 or 60 km/h will now permanently be 40 km/h.

The region ran a test in the ones last year in which the lower speed limits were in place Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. but the new speeds will be 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to a report, staff found that drivers were going slower but there were more people who were speeding.

At the same time, they found that areas with automatic speed enforcement cameras saw drivers going slower and speeding less.

This caused staff to recommend the permanent switch to reduce confusion and to also make the cameras more effective.