Posted Mar 11, 2009, 11:08 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: B3K Halifax, NS
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I thought this was interesting...
HRM wants to reduce school zone speed limit
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Wed. Mar 11 - 5:23 AM
Drivers could be braking to 30 kilometres per hour from 50 in city school zones after council agreed Tuesday night to ask the provincial government to make the move.
The change to the provincial Motor Vehicle Act was recommended for the city’s core areas only, after a few suburban and rural councillors said speed limits on their roads are often higher than 50.
Coun. Mary Wile (Clayton Park West) brought the request to council’s regular weekly meeting, noting that many other municipalities, and some provinces, have already reduced speed limits in school zones.
Slowing traffic does save lives, she said.
"Research has shown that a child hit by a car going 50 km/h has an 80 per cent chance of dying, yet a child hit by a car going 30 km/h has only a five per cent chance of dying."
The motion immediately found support with Coun. Jerry Blumenthal (Halifax North End).
"I’ve seen it work in other places and we need to do something before we have a catastrophe," he said.
But Ms. Wile’s motion met with some resistance.
Coun. Bill Karsten (Portland-East Woodlawn) said he’d like to see some statistics to back up Ms. Wile’s claim of increased safety because he was not "100 per cent sure."
He said enforcement and education are keys to getting drivers to slow down.
"Let’s ask the question today: Why do people still speed in our streets?"
He said it’s time to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving.
Sometimes all it takes is a ticket, said Coun. Linda Mosher (Purcells Cove-Armdale).
"People talk about a holistic approach, and I would unfortunately say baloney," she said. "You’ve got to hit them in the pocketbook . . . you’ve got to give tickets."
Coun. Russell Walker (Fairview-Clayton Park) said a trial period with a lower speed limit on Bayview Road in 2003 actually resulted in more speeding, despite enforcement and education. When the limit was dropped to 40 from 50, the average speed increased to 59 from 54.
"It went up; it shocked everybody," he said.
Ken Reashor of the city’s traffic authority told council he has already sounded out provincial officials on their willingness to reduce speed limits and they were lukewarm to the idea.
That prompted council to consider whether the best approach to the province would be a probing phone call to the deputy transportation minister, an email or a formal letter of request.
"Even just talking to a deputy minister to find out if they’re even willing to think about our suggestion," Coun. Dawn Sloane (Halifax Downtown) said in moving an amendment.
"We could actually defer this question until we hear, ‘Yes, no, maybe, warm, cold, whatever,’ and then we can get back to this."
But in the end, after Ms. Wile implored her colleagues to act, council approved a written request.
"This is a very important thing," she said.
"If we had the whole of council behind this, then that would give us the clout to go to the provincial government and say, ‘This is what we want.’ "
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I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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