Shortened school zones worry Argyle Park residents

The signs are up and the new rules around reduced speeds in school zones in the Queen City officially come into effect on Sunday.

Those new rules drop the speed limit in Regina's school zones from 40 kilometres per hour to 30 — but also include changes to the length of some zones that have raised concerns about student safety.

Parent Nathan Smith has started a petition that asks officials to revisit their decision around one school zone near Dr. L.M. Hanna School on Davin Crescent, where his son is a student.

He's circulated the papers throughout the neighbourhood and on his social media accounts, and has gathered 300 signatures so far. 

"I'd absolutely like to see them put it back where it was," Smith said.

The changes to the city's school zones coming into effect Sept. 1 mean in some cases, crosswalks that were previously inside a school zone are now outside a reduced-speed zone.

Faisal Kalim, the City of Regina's manager of traffic engineering, previously said just because the school zone is shorter, doesn't mean it's more dangerous. 

"Having the shorter zone is more beneficial and having a crosswalk at [a location that's] 50 kilometres per hour isn't inherently unsafe," Kalim said in an interview earlier this week with CBC News.

Having shorter school zones means drivers won't be as likely to start speeding near the end of the zone, he said, and will help ensure they're slowing down when they absolutely need to.

'It's going to be worse'

But residents in Argyle Park disagree. The school zone near Dr. L.M. Hanna School used to include a stretch of Argyle Street N., just before Davin Crescent.

Now, with the shorter school zone in place, the sign announcing the start of the school zone has been moved around the corner, onto Davin Crescent, and the crosswalk is no longer part of a school zone.

Residents said Argyle Street N. was recently extended to connect to Rochdale Boulevard and now, more traffic than ever is using the road.

Smith, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 40 years, said his son crosses Argyle Street N. every day to get to school. 

"We've had one child that has been hit and dragged in that intersection in the past," Smith said. "Now that you're speeding up those cars, it's going to be worse."

He cited resorts presented to council that stated the decrease in speed would only add an additional four seconds to drivers' commutes and estimated restoring the school zone to its previous location would only add another second on top of that. 

"Are people saying that adding a second to their day of travel — is that not worth moving it back and possibly saving a child's life?" Smith asked. 

Bryan Rudd, who also lives in Argyle Park, sent an email to members of Regina's city council asking them if they were trying to "get someone killed." 

"I unfortunately have numerous stories of myself, friends and siblings nearly being hit by traffic not paying attention or trying to beat pedestrians in this area," Rudd wrote. 

"People have been hit by vehicles in this area and it has drastically changed their lives."

Rudd asked council to either reverse the decision to shorten the school zone, or install a button-operated crosswalk to allow people to safely cross the busy street.

"While we understand the City of Regina follows a standard of 200 [metres of] spacing of traffic control devices," he wrote. 'There was an exception made at Barr [Street] and Sherwood [Drive] for St. Peter School, and we feel the same exception should be made here."

The City of Regina was unable to provide a response to Rudd and Smith's concerns about this specific intersection by deadline.