INNISFAIL - Slowdown times for motorists going through school zones are now uninterrupted for a full eight and a half hours.
And motorists getting traffic violation tickets will see bigger fines as a result of approved changes to the town's Traffic Bylaw.
However, there won't be any changes to the maximum speed limit in town. It will still be 50 km/h and not 40 km/h as desired by Mayor Jim Romane.
"I respect the decision of council. It has been 50 for years but it is becoming a bit of a trend in other municipalities to go to 40 for obvious safety reasons," said Romane, who pressed council for the change last month but it was shot down. "I don't think anybody is doing it because there has been an overwhelming accident rate or anything like that. I think it is just safe planning, in my mind."
On June 24 council gave first reading to staff recommendations for changes to the Innisfail Traffic Bylaw. Third and final reading was approved by council at its regular meeting on July 8.
Most of the changes brought forward by Michelle Honeyman, the town's director of community services, were just minor wording alterations. However, there was an important change made for the time of the maximum 30 km/h driving speed period in the school zone. The long-standing three separate times for drivers to slow down has been replaced by just one that covers the entire school day from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
"The suggested change is being made to simplify the speed zone times in school zones and recognize the increased traffic safety throughout the day," said Honeyman in her report to council on June 24.
She said the school zone time change will also mean updated signage in the school zones. However, until that is done the current posted times will still be valid, added Honeyman.
As well, Honeyman's report recommended changes to the penalties under the amended bylaw. Her proposal called for all Traffic Bylaw fines to have a fee equivalent to the provincial Traffic Safety Act.
"Right now our bylaw penalty was less than what the Traffic Safety Act was. So this allows our bylaw enforcement officers to write a local traffic bylaw violation ticket as opposed to a provincial ticket," she said.
Although the issue of the maximum speed limit in town, particularly in residential areas, was settled by council on June 24 Honeyman still chose to address it in her report to council on July 8.
"We wanted to make sure they were aware that we didn't reduce it," she said.
Romane said after the July 8 council meeting that he still believes a 50 km/h maximum speed limit is too high for the town, noting there is one area in the north part of town on 56th Street where the 40 km/h maximum speed limit is correctly posted and enforced.
"And I totally agree with it. It is a street where there is hardly any off-street parking at all. The trouble is that there is all parked cars from one end to the other. It becomes pretty dangerous," said Romane, adding he does not want the town to move to "spot zoning" for motor vehicle speed control.
"I think rather than spot zoning this street at 40 and this at 50, and this at 40 and that at 50, it just becomes not so much confusing but inconsistent," said Romane. The mayor said he's still open to bringing back his 40 km/h maximum speed proposal to council in the future.
In the meantime, Honeyman said in response to a query from Coun. Jean Barclay the town will continue to collect data on traffic speeds in town through a monitoring sign that is moved around to different areas. She said a report will be brought to council in the future.
"We can actually show what the average speed is over a two-week period of time, and then based on that we can look at either bringing in enforcement and making sure we are doing joint enforcement operations with the RCMP in those areas and making sure people are adhering to the actual speed," said Honeyman. "Or if they are doing the speed and it still seems like it is unsafe then we can look at whether we take the speed down less in those areas."
