The City of Weyburn’s traffic bylaw came back to council on Monday night with a list of changes, including two “contentious” items, to raise the speed on Railway Avenue to 50 km an hour, and to change the hours the school zone is in effect.
As the discussions went, the most contentious of the changes was the proposal to raise the speed limit on Railway Avenue from 40 to 50 km an hour, causing a split vote when a councillor tried to remove that proposal. The bylaw suggests raising the speed from 16th Street all the way to Government Road.
For the school zone speeds, which are currently at 30 km hours 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the proposal is to restrict that speed to between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Leading off the discussion, Coun. Dick Michel noted this bylaw has been kicked around by council for a couple of years now.
“The most contentious ones are the school zones, which are at 30 km an hour. We’re looking to put a time limit on it, but that has to be decided tonight. The other one is the traffic speed on Railway Avenue. That could be contentious as well — everything else is pretty straight-forward,” he said.
Coun. Jeff Richards felt the police commission could have a discussion on the proposal to raise the speed on Railway Avenue, as it will depend on the enforcement of the speed by the city police.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw said he doesn’t agree with raising that speed limit, pointing out this would be hazardous for people coming around the curves, particularly if they’re backing out of a lot.
“I think 40 is plenty, especially for people backing out of the eye care centre,” added Coun. Michel, who then moved to keep the speed at 40 km an hour.
When a suggestion was made that having a limit at 50 would mean people driving at 55 or 60, Coun. Richards took exception to the comment.
“40 doesn’t mean 55 or 60. 40 means 40, and 50 means 50. I don’t think that means 60 — the speed limit is the speed limit. Our police service is reasonable on all this stuff, and I think they are,” he said.
The vote on Coun. Michel’s motion was a tie, so it was lost and the original bylaw was back for the vote for the second reading, which passed 5-1.
Coun. Van Betuw said he had a problem with the part of Railway from Fourth Street through downtown to Government Road. “I just think that’s too fast,” he added.
Mayor Marcel Roy pointed out that if council wanted the police to enforce the maximum speeds, then maybe they should be charging people who drive slower than the limit, noting many people drive at only 20 km an hour.
“Studies have shown that people driving too slow are just as dangerous as people going too fast,” said Mayor Roy.
The bylaw needed unanimous support by council to be passed for its third reading on Monday night, but since it was not unanimous, it will now come back at a future council meeting where it will only need to be passed by a majority.
Coun. Michel said this will give the public the opportunity to voice their opinion about the changes in speed limits, even “to challenge council.”
“This isn’t a decision I take lightly. This is what the city engineers and the police have said would work. They’re in a better position to understand, they’re the ones who police it. This was a recommendation by the city engineers and the police department,” said Coun. Brad Wheeler.
The bylaw will be back at a future meeting for the third and final reading before it takes effect.
