Class may not be in session, but the city is abuzz with tales of dangerous driving and hair-raising encounters in Regina school zones.
“We get complaints about close calls,” Regina Public School Board vice-chair Adam Hicks said. “People doing U-turns and almost hitting children. As they’re speeding, I’ve also heard a school community council talk about ‘suicide passes’, where someone is going too slow and a car doesn’t want to wait, so it pulls out into the opposite lane to get around.”
That’s why the city is considering lowering school zone speed limits to 30 kilometres an hour from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“There’s also traffic calming devices,” Mayor Michael Fougere noted. “No U-turns in school zones, and a different way where you make it more protected for parking so you can actually see where kids are dropped off.”
The speed limit is currently 40 kilometres an hour from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Thirty kilometres might be pretty slow, but the city’s director of roads and transportation, Norman Kyle, says it might not necessarily tack much more time on your commute. In most school zones, it would be a matter of seconds.
Hicks tested it out for himself.
“I tried it with my kids in their school zone,” he said. “I timed it going 40 kilometres an hour, and I slowed down, turned around, and went through at 30 kilometres an hour. It was seconds difference.”
The city will also looking at shortening other school zones or eliminating them altogether in a potential audit of more than 80 school zones.
“Depending on the type of school, the age of the student, where it is located from the roadway and the type of the roadway, the protection provided, some school zones may become school areas where there is no reduced speed,” Kyle explained. An example would be a high school where it’s fenced off.”
“Each site is different,” Fougere added. “Different tree lines, different sight lines. Some are two lanes from a four lane, some have lots of traffic, some don’t have that. We want to make sure we get it right.”
For Hicks, the extra time and changes are worth potentially saving a life in the event of an accident.
Hicks and Kyle both cited studies that showed people hit by a vehicle moving at 30 kilometres/hour have a 95 per cent survival rate. At 40 kilometres, that number dropped to 80 per cent. At 50 kilometres/hour, only 55 per cent of people survive their injuries.
“Every kilometre basically matters,” Hicks said. “Every kilometre we can reduce it could potentially save somebody’s life- a child’s life.”
The proposed speed limit will go to a vote on Wednesday.
If passed, the change will take effect for the 2019 school year.
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