Nanaimo city council wants to find ways to keep vehicle speeds down in and around school zones.
Nanaimo city staff have been asked to produce a report exploring ways the city could create 30-kilometre-per-hour speed limits outside of B.C. Motor Vehicle Act-designated school zones.
At a meeting Monday, Feb. 26, Coun. Ben Geselbracht tabled a motion that staff present options to make enforceable 30-kilometre-per-hour speed limits in high-risk pedestrian areas, such as near schools.
Geselbracht said he is seeing Duncan reduce speed limits to 30km/h and said Saanich and Sidney are also working to reduce speeds to 30km/h in select areas.
His motion arose from discussion at a governance and priorities meeting Feb. 12 about removing certain 30km/h school zone speed limit signs that are not enforceable under the B.C. Motor Vehicle Act. The non-enforceable school zone speed limits at issue are on Uplands Drive, Metral Drive, Dover Road and McRobb Avenue.
“There is a pathway to be able to do this in the municipality that we could explore,” Geselbracht said. “I think it would behoove us to explore that first, because if we can lower speed limits in certain sections and have the authority to do that, then we go ahead and do that first.”
That way, when the city needs to take down the non-compliant 30km/h school zone speed limit signs, there will still be 30km/h speed limits in place, he said.
Coun. Tyler Brown supported Geselbracht’s motion.
“We do have the tools to make this happen … so we can with a little creativity get around some of the items where the MVA falls short,” Brown said.
Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog asked if 30km/h speed zones would necessarily apply 24/7, year-round. Bill Sims, general manager of engineering and public works, said they would, similar to other 30km/h zones as well as the 40km/h zone on Departure Bay Road already in place. It would also require creation of a municipal traffic bylaw to enact the change, he said.
“So then the RCMP would not be able to enforce it under the Motor Vehicle Act … because it now becomes a municipal bylaw … so you have to have enforcement under a municipal bylaw ticket,” said Coun. Sheryl Armstrong.
She said the need for the bylaw to be enforced by the municipality would translate to a “huge procedure.”
“I know the school zones in question. I don’t think speeding is a major issue in those. We’ve only had two e-mails on this. It’s been well advertised in the public, so I don’t see it as a big issue, so I won’t vote in favour,” she said.
Coun. Hilary Eastmure said she would like the issue referred to the newly formed public safety committee, which has members with experience in traffic safety.
Krog said city staff were already overworked and said a second report on the topic was unnecessary.
“We had a report. We understood what the issues were. With great respect, moving the city towards instituting a 30km/h zone strikes me as overkill … The reality is, a law that can’t be enforced is a bad law,” Krog said. “We have enough trouble now and complaints about the limited abilities of the RCMP to enforce all kinds of other laws, whether they be under the Criminal Code or the Motor Vehicle Act, and … given the public response to this, a couple of e-mails is not going to move my position on this.”
Geselbracht’s motion passed with Krog and councillors Armstrong, Ian Thorpe and Janice Perrino opposed. Thorpe then motioned to have the topic referred to the public safety committee, and that motion passed unanimously.
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