An Estevan man has launched a petition on the change.org website in an effort to have lower speed limits on three narrow streets in the Pleasantdale area.
James Schilling, who has resided on Thorn Crescent since 2019, created the petition last week.
He would like to see the speed limit on Thorn Crescent, McCormick Crescent and Grundeen Crescent lowered from 50 to 30 kilometres per hour (km/h), as he says too many motorists are treating the three roads like they’re race tracks. He notes the streets are near a couple of schools, and people are speeding during peak hours while children are walking to and from schools.
“With cars parked on both sides (of the street), it is not safe to travel 50 km/h,” Schilling wrote.
Other options would be widening the streets or installing speed humps.
“People will be more conscious,” said Schilling. “For me, as a driver, when I see a 30 (km/h) sign, I think I’m going to get a ticket if I don’t slow down, because there’s probably police nearby and those are usually peak places where police are located, are at reduced speed areas.”
If he’s in a school or playground zone, then it’s an automatic trigger to slow down.
The speeding issue is particularly troublesome during peak traffic times: just before and after school, and during the noon hour.
“I’ve talked to my neighbours about it, and they know it’s a problem as well. It’s been an ongoing issue for quite some time to a few of the people that I’ve talked to,” said Schilling.
His fiancée Erin Burke has lived on Thorn Crescent for seven years. At the time, it was a nice, quiet road where she could teach her girls to ride their bicycle.
She recalled one recent incident in which she saw a vehicle travelling so quickly that it was “leaning,” and dirt was flying out from behind it.
Right after the curve on Thorn, there is a crosswalk, and had there been pedestrians crossing the street, she doesn’t believe the car would have been able to stop in time.
When she confronted an occupant, he said they were going the speed limit.
“If you’re tilting on a curve, and throwing dust out from under you, you’re going too fast,” said Burke. “When I drive that road, if I hit 30 (km/h) I feel I’m going too fast at times, especially when we have vehicles parked on both sides, you can get one vehicle down. That’s it. A lot of times you have to go and pull off to the side to allow one person by so you can continue on.”
She’s pretty sure there are other narrow roads in town that would benefit from reduced speeds, especially since many people will still drive 10 kilometres above the speed limit.
When Schilling reached out to Mayor Roy Ludwig, the mayor forwarded Schilling’s call to the Combined Traffic Services of Saskatchewan unit. That individual visited Schilling personally to say they would be paying close attention.
Schilling also called the Estevan Police Service a few times about the issue, and he has seen more patrols of the area.
Burke echoed Schilling’s statements about the recent response from the police.
“The police have been amazing at going and driving down our road and in our area at the time we’ve told them we’ve seen the speeding vehicles,” said Burke. “I don’t know if they’ve caught them yet, but even today (June 27), I was sitting by the window and I saw the police slowly driving down the road.”
If the police are slowly driving on Thorn, then Burke believes that’s an indication that 50 km/h is too fast.
Schilling is also hoping to create more awareness of the speeding issue within the community, and for people to remember to drive slowly on these streets.
“I have kids myself. I have a five-year-old, a six-year-old and an infant, and as it is, I’m insistent that my kids play in the backyard, because I’m scared of the cars,” said Schilling.
