School zone reduced speed limits back before students

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This article was published 02/09/2021 (1639 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S that time of year again: school zone traffic speed enforcement has begun in Winnipeg.

As of Sept. 1, unmarked vehicles may be lurking, waiting for drivers to cruise by at a speed above 30 km/h in designated zones across the city, even though students won’t be in class for another week.

Todd Dube, of traffic safety advocacy group Wise Up Winnipeg, is among those calling for the removal of photo radar in the city’s 225 school zones.

“Photo enforcement is predatory,” Dube said, adding he saw a police truck idling in a school zone Wednesday near Health Sciences Centre.

If safety is a concern, posts with lights that flash during school hours — when students are coming and going — should be installed by roads, Dube said.

“(People) get a ticket that they were going 43 (km/h) down a street with no cars, students or anything, when school is closed and there’s no visual reason to go slower,” Dube said. “It’s absurd.

The city is “framing this as a safety crisis that doesn’t exist so they can rush to the rescue with their revenue program.”

Manitoba Public Insurance doesn’t track how many collisions happen in school zones, according to spokesperson Brian Smiley. The Crown corporation’s 2019 report shows 16 pedestrians were killed in traffic collisions, 31 were seriously injured and 87 suffered minor injuries that year.

A decade earlier, nine pedestrians died, 37 faced serious injuries and 137 had minor injuries. Winnipeg implemented reduced speed school zones in 2014.

Coun. Shawn Nason (Transcona) has pushed against the school zones for several years.

“It’s nonsensical, the approach that we’re taking, because it doesn’t give the appearance that it’s truly about safety,” he said.

“Kids can be present in these areas at any time. Sometimes, I think they’re more present in the summer than they are during the school year, in these playgrounds — coming and going through off hours.”

Winnipeg drivers must abide by school zone limits September through June, Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

A ticket for going 45 km/h in a school zone is a $246 fine and two demerits; at 55 km/h, it climbs to $378.

“We need to do more, if it’s truly about safety,” Nason said. “Everything I’ve seen, it’s just about collecting revenue.”

Last year, 33,661 school zone tickets were issued. Operations were suspended March to June, due to the COVID-19-related closures of all city public schools.

In 2019, 41,793 school zone tickets were mailed out.

“Photo enforcement is part of the Winnipeg Police Service’s overall strategy to make the city streets safe for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike,” Const. Jay Murray said in a written statement.

Ten such equipped vehicles are assigned to photo enforcement in school, playground and construction zones.

Murray pointed to a 2019 survey conducted by WPS, in which nearly 80 per cent of 620 respondents strongly or moderately approved of photo radar camera use in school zones.

Coun. Markus Chambers, chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board, said starting photo enforcement a week before school starts brings awareness.

“Reduce your speed and be mindful of the school zones, and you’ll be able to keep the money in your pocket,” he said. “Ultimately, (it’s) keeping kids safe.”

gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca