New bylaw for better traffic control

Times Contributor    

 

Wheatland County council passed three readings for a new traffic control Bylaw 2014-30 on Aug. 19. It will update the rescinded bylaw to include new road developments, make the bylaw more accurate and capture oversights not included in the rescinded version. 

“The intent of the revision, and the only items altered within this revision were the updates to our currently existing speed zones, other than Provincial (1, 2, and 3 digit) highways,” said Sgt. Jeff Cyr, Senior Peace officer for Wheatland County.

Bylaw 2014-30 made changes to the speed limits on the following roads: the Lyalta road, setting a speed limit of 90 km; RR233, 1.9 km south of Hwy 564 for 700 meters to 80 km; roads in Speargrass to 40 km; TWP road 252, north of 9-29-26-W of 4 was set to 30 km for a playground zone, RR 212 north of TWP road 272, north to Rosebud River set at 30 km, just to name a few.

Overall speed limits are fairly straight forward with all un-posted roads outside an urban centre in Wheatland County set at 80 km, inside urban areas 50 km (excluding Dalum), playgrounds zones in urban areas 30 km, alleys in urban centres 20km. School zones are set at 30km with posted hours of 8 a.m.- 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. 

For a complete view of the bylaw and a complete list of roads and their limits, see the County of Wheatland website at www.wheatlandcounty.ca and look under Protective Services, Bylaws.

Cyr said some villages like Gleichen are governed by Wheatland County, so speed zones cannot be changed without Wheatland County Council oversight. However, other municipalities within the county such as Hussar, Standard, Rockyford, and the Town of Strathmore may change their speed limits within their limits as long as they fit within the Alberta government transportation guidelines. 

Municipalities gained the ability to post limits in 2013. The logic was the municipalities would have the flexibility to structure the times that would best fit their residents. 

School zones were one example where postings vary. Some municipalities wanted more leverage to set specific conditions for the unique situations of their school schedules.

Some municipalities in Alberta have chosen to set their school zones to a flat 30 km any time of day, making it less complicated for motorists, who won’t be distracted by looking at their watch or trying to figure out whether school is in session. Earlier this year the province was considering extending the time in school zones, as many areas use the school buildings outside of school hours for community activity and some schools have different schedules than others, with students arriving as early as 7:30 a.m. 

Throughout the discussions on speed limits provincially and in municipalities, the main goal is to have streets as safe as possible for all residents. Drive safe and save lives.