Council combining school and playground zones
By Lethbridge Herald on May 16, 2023.
City council has approved the implementation of harmonized school and playground zones starting in September.
Herald photoAlejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously in favour Tuesday to approve the implementation of harmonized school and playground zones.
The change will see school zones turned into playground zones, with both in effect between 7:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. every day. Changes are expected to be implemented in time for the start of school in September.
Mayor Blaine Hyggen asked Coun. Belinda Crowson, who submitted the recommendation from the Civic Works Standing Policy Committee, why the timing was set from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. instead of from dawn to dusk as other municipalities have done, especially since it’s dark in the winter by 4 p.m.
“One of the reasons is for the consistency, and that’s one of the reasons we’re looking at harmonization,” Crowson said.
She said the other difficulty is that many people are unsure when dusk occurs.
“When you’re looking at dusk it varies of course, and we all have a different idea of when the sun has actually gone down, and so this gives everybody an understanding of it is this specific time.”
Hyggen also asked about the data was used to show that a reduction in speed is safer.
“I think included in the package is a letter from the doctors in Lethbridge who are supporting this, because one of the things you will notice, we see a crash at 50 km/h and survival rate of children, versus a crash at 30 km/h and the survival rate of children is demonstrably better at 30 km/h,” Crowson said. “So that is one of the things that science is showing us, that slowing people down does increase the chance of children surviving.”
Transportation Engineering Manager Ahmed Ali, said the project will implement one of the Transportation Safety Plan recommendations to enhance road safety and support the primary objective of reducing traffic related deaths and major injuries to zero by 2040.
“Excessive speeds are known to be the primary cause of a significant proportion of collisions that result in serious injuries and fatalities, so this decision will promote the safety of all residents,” Ali said. “Traffic calming is also an effective means of reducing negative impacts of traffic on the quality of life for Lethbridge residents in existing and future neighbourhoods.”
The Lethbridge Police Service, Lethbridge School Division and the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division provided council with letters of support for harmonized zones, as did the Chinook Hospital Trauma Centre and the Southwest Alberta Road Safety Society.
The change will make Lethbridge consistent with municipalities in Alberta with existing harmonized school and playground zones, including Calgary, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Edmonton and Coaldale.
The total implementation cost of about $65,000 will come from unspent funds from item C-16 in the 2018-2027 Capital Improvement Program.
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16-15
Bad idea. Now you are going to delay traffic on busy thoroughfares like McMaster Blvd for no reason other than photo radar revenue. No playground there. Hopefully the City has the expertise to program a time of day plan into the traffic signals controller to compensate for the slow speeds. Gonna get a red light every time if not.