OLDS — By Oct. 1, an unofficial three-month grace period for drivers to get used to and obey new speed limits in Olds will be over.
Protective services director Justin Andrew says three months is a “reasonable” period of time for people to make that adjustment.
That said, he says officers have the leeway to enforce them now, if they feel the situation warrants that.
The new rules came into force July 1.
A playground zone with a 30 kilometres an hour (km/h) speed limit runs along 53rd Street by the splash park, along 50th Avenue by the bowling alley to just west of the Cow Palace on 54th St.
Speed limits in playground zones at local schools remain at 30 km/h but are in effect all year long and last from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Playgrounds affected are at École affect Deer Meadow School, Horizon School, Ecole Olds Elementary School, and Holy Trinity Catholic School.
Also, in the Highlands, a speed zone has been extended to include a playground near Holy Trinity Catholic School in order to create one constant playground zone with a consistent speed limit of 30 km/h.
In an email, Andrew said legally, the new rules are place from the first day they’re posted and “can be enforced at any time, as it is the driver’s responsibility to know the applicable rules of the road in any community and at any time without any opportunity for excuse.”
During an interview, Andrew said in general, drivers seem to be adapting to the new playground zone and accompanying speed limit in the Centennial park area.
He said previously some people were driving through that area at 60 km/h or faster. Now, many are driving in the 60 km/h range.
“(That’s a) really good start and it certainly increases the safety exponentially, but ultimately the goal is for compliance and to recognize (that) the playground zone (speed limit) is 30,” he said.
Andrew said drivers are already driving fairly slowly along 50th Avenue in Uptowne as well.
"Inevitably, there is a little bit of that small town feel where people still, you know, will jaywalk and cross out from between angle parked cars, which can create safety concerns,” Andrew said.
However, he said so far, the majority of drivers there are driving at about 30 km/h.
Andrew said new official the speed limit “just gives us the ability to say you're acting in an inappropriate way. You need to recognize that we want to correct that behavior so that there is no danger.
“We don't anticipate seeing a dramatic change in behaviours that are already existing, but what It is is it's a tool for our enforcement officers to be able to use when the minority of people don't use common sense and good judgment in how they operate,” he said.
The extended playground zone in the Highlands near Holy Trinity Catholic School was created to fix a bit of a problem.
“It was always a bit of a confusing piece because there was a playground for a very short period of time. Then that zone stopped for only a very short section and then was reinstated with the school zone,” Andrew said.
"People are relatively happy with the fact that it's now one continuous playground zone through there instead of the slow down, speed up, slow down type thing.
“We may not hear, you know, accolades for it. But it's one of those things that you don't hear complaints. And sometimes that's as good as it gets for us.
“People aren't unhappy, so we're going to take that as a win.”
Andrew said protective services staff will monitor compliance and reaction to all those new pieces and keep town council in the loop regarding them.
