QUESTION:
“Why isn’t Royal Avenue a 30 kilometres per hour school zone in front of Qayqayt Elementary School?”
– longtime New Westminster resident Robert Denney (via email)
ANSWER:
I asked Lisa Leblanc, the City of New Westminster’s transportation manager. This is what she said.
“We are following current best practices and guidelines on how school zones should be signed, and therefore we do not post a reduced speed limit at school zones along arterial roads such as Royal Avenue.
"In fact, it is explicitly discouraged along arterial roads according to the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC), the agency responsible for developing traffic sign guidelines in Canada. The primary reason for TAC’s position on this is because it has been shown that a lower speed limit ‘can appear to motorists as contradicting the roadway function,’ resulting in some drivers losing respect for the speed limit.
"When this happens, there may be a large variation in vehicle speeds, which has been shown to increase the likelihood of collisions.
“In the absence of a reduced speed limit, there are other ways to improve safety along Royal Avenue for Qayqayt Elementary School, some of which have been implemented, including: the provision of a crossing guard at the Third Street pedestrian signal, school grounds fully fenced from Royal Avenue, enforcement by the New West Police Department, and locating school driveways and other accesses away from Royal Avenue. That said, we do work in an environment of continuous improvement.
"We recently completed an engineering review of the intersection of Royal Avenue and Third Street, we are currently in the process of reviewing school zone traffic controls throughout the city, and we are developing a City of New Westminster policy and updated procedures for signage and traffic control near schools, which may result in actions that improve upon existing practices.
"When complete, we will further review and implement any applicable traffic control measures that may be required to make the Qayqayt school environment safer.”
Do you have a question for city hall you’d like answered? Email reporter Theresa McManus at [email protected] and she’ll do her best to track down the answer.
