A Calgary city council committee is recommending school zone speed limits of 30 km/h come into effect at 7:30 a.m. instead of the current start time of 8 a.m.
The public and Catholic school boards both asked for the change since many schools begin earlier than they used to.
"Often times we see that kids arrive at school before the start of school zone times. And often times school will actually start before eight o'clock," said Calgary Catholic School District spokeswoman Janet Corsten.
The proposed change would leave 5 p.m. as the end time for school zone speeds.
Unfortunately, this will not help Haultain's students as our school has a 'playground zone' with an 8:30am start time, after Haultain is already in session and well after our school patrolers start at 8:05. If the City is going to go to the expense of changing school zone signs ($25,000 apparently), then they should consider unifying start times for both types of speed zones (playground and school). Ironically, Wilma Hansen Junior High does not have patrolers and does not start until 9:05am, but has a 'school zone' which will now require speed reduction at 7:30am, an hour and a half before their students start! Linda Fox-Mellway brought up the topic of changes to playground and school zones with our Community Board at least 2 years ago and we have heard nothing since. It would have been nice to have been asked for feedback on this proposal.
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