Mayoral candidate Klein pushes to speed up school zone lights installations

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/09/2022 (1433 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A mayoral candidate is promising to spend $2.5 million to speed up the installation of flashing school zone lights the City of Winnipeg first expected to obtain through a donation after contract disputes stalled a plan to put them in place.

Kevin Klein, the Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood councillor now running for mayor, said he would divert some funds from photo radar revenues if elected to add 480 lights approaching schools during his first term of office, arguing the solar-powered amber beacons heighten safety by better alerting drivers they’re about to enter a reduced-speed zone. Those areas have limits that drop to 30 km/h between September and June.

“The purpose of these lights is to alert drivers that they must reduce their speed and be vigilant because of children and other pedestrians while traveling through that area. These lights are important. These lights send a warning to drivers,” said Klein.

Expert Electric owner Chuck Lewis first offered to donate the lights to the city in 2017, triggering years of debate and municipal study. Lewis briefly withdrew his offer out of frustration over the wait, before council ultimately approved a plan to accept the gift in September 2020.

The first set of lights was installed on Bedson Street near Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary and Middle School in April 2021. While the city’s plan called for the lights to be installed at a minimum rate of one pair per month until the 480 donated beacons were in place, only the initial set has been added.

Lewis has blamed the delay on a contract dispute with the city. He previously said the municipal government asked him to sign a revised contract that would leave him at risk of legal claims if the lights malfunctioned and a child was hurt, or even for potential lost traffic ticket revenue.

He finally agreed on a revised contract without those liability issues in June, but has been waiting for the city to sign it, he said.

In a Friday interview, Lewis said he can’t personally afford to speed up the pace of donations, especially since the price of the beacons has risen to $9,000 from $7,000 per pair since he first made the offer.

“The costs have gotten way higher because of the sluggish mentality of the city and, if they keep stalling further, those costs will go higher and higher,” Lewis said.

The business owner said he’s still willing to install one set of lights per month at his own cost, should the revised contract be finalized.

However, Lewis said Klein’s proposal to speed up installations using photo radar revenues makes sense since he believes it would make the areas safer much sooner.

“If you had a kid go to school and you had (thousands of) people a year speeding at that school, that’s basically (that many potential near misses) for that kid to get hit.”

Klein said he would also like to find a way to better identify the presence of photo radar vehicles, though he acknowledged such a change would likely require the co-operation of the provincial government.

“Our photo radar vehicles blend in as a parked car. I want to do what Edmonton’s doing, where the cars are painted bright yellow so that they are identifiable,” said Klein, arguing the enhanced visibility would also help ensure drivers slow down.

In an emailed statement, a City of Winnipeg spokeswoman confirmed the city has received a new contract for the school zone lights donation, which awaits a council vote to approve its terms.

It appears Klein may also require the support of police to use photo radar revenue to speed up the installations.

“All revenue from photo radar is directed back to (the) Winnipeg Police Service budget and is reinvested at their discretion,” wrote spokeswoman Julie Horbal Dooley.

Winnipeggers will vote for their next mayor and council Oct. 26.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga