A Wallaceburg Councillor is hoping to have community safety zones implemented in Chatham-Kent.
Carmen McGregor is set to bring forward a notice of motion at the Monday, January 15 council meeting about the issue. The move stems from a previous motion she successfully entered back in September to install a traffic light at the Murray Street and Reaume Avenue intersection.
McGregor said increasing the safety level for children in the community is at the heart of her motion.
“Being council and being responsible, we need to do the best we can do to create safe environments for all of our citizens,” she said.
“I think this is just a natural uptake from the changes that happened this past year and the changing of different lights and signs. We want to make sure kids have a safe method to get to school.”
McGregor’s motion is asking staff to introduce the community safety zones in the summer months of 2018, while schools are closed for summer break.
She is hoping to have the zones implemented in sections adjacent to schools, including doubling speeding fines if travelling above the posted speed limit.
She’s also looking for a reduction of the speed limit to 30 km/hr in these proposed safety zones.
McGregor is also looking to pull the community safety zone study from the traffic calming policy, which is to be conducted in 2018, with recommendations not coming to council until a undetermined date in 2019.
While she expects some modifications to be made to her motion, she hopes to implement the zones gradually and not all at once. If approved, McGregor said she would start with priority areas, like the section of Murray Street by Holy Family Catholic School in Wallaceburg.
McGregor said these community safety zones have worked elsewhere.
“It’s in a lot of places,” she said.
“There is a phased-in project in Toronto, which is much larger area of course, but doing it by priority. It is widely used in parts of Europe and the United States and other provinces in Canada… I know it’s used quite successfully in Alberta.”
Wallaceburg’s Krystal Gyuricza, who spearheaded protests and volunteering on a daily basis at the Murray Street and Reaume Avenue intersection back in the fall, told the Sydenham Current she hopes to see the safety zones approved.
“I feel this is very important,” Gyuricza said.
“This should be something that just happens all across Canada. Children’s safety is the most important thing, this should not even be up for debate. Putting up signs and having the police enforce this issue is the best solution. Lowering speed saves lives.”
Council is set to vote on McGregor’s motion at the Monday meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.
