A group of students from Glashan Public School walk across the busy intersection at Arlington Avenue and Kent Street in Centretown. The Ontario government and City of Ottawa are looking for more ways to enhance road safety for children walking to and from school. Kelsey Curtis, Centretown NewsThe use of photo radar in Centretown school zones may soon become a reality, thanks to proposed provincial legislation recently announced by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.
If passed, the law would give municipalities the ability to implement photo radar on municipal roads and reduce regulatory red tape for cities looking to install red light cameras, according to a Nov. 8 press release from the premier’s office.
“We have seen too many injuries and deaths caused by drivers who speed and endanger people’s lives,” Wynne stated in the release.
“Our intent is to give municipalities more tools to help keep people safe on our roads.”
In a joint statement with Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney applauded the announcement.
“Speeding and aggressive and distracted driving are continued problems in downtown wards,” McKenney stated. “The toll in deaths, injuries and reduced quality of life of these behaviours is unacceptable.”
Wynne said the new rules would also include the ability for municipalities to create new zones with lowered speed limits in urban areas, a measure aimed specifically at mitigating pedestrian-vehicle collisions.
The provincial announcement stated that “automated speed enforcement” technology “takes pictures of speeders’ licence plates and is already used in many parts of North America and Europe, and for community safety zones and school zones.”
The proposed changes would also include “a streamlined process for municipalities to participate in Ontario’s Red Light Camera program without the need for lengthy regulatory approval.”
McKenney, vice-chair of the city’s transportation committee, is a vocal supporter of photo radar, and has been laying the groundwork for its approval by city council for some time.
In May, McKenney introduced a motion for the committee to request permission from the province to run a photo radar pilot project to protect school zones, and in that same meeting also asked that city staff research other ways to help keep students safe en route to schools.
The staff report was received by the committee this month, and it details numerous measures currently in place to keep kids safe. Among them is the Walking School Bus initiative, a pilot project adopted in 2014 and now operating in various communities.
Canadian advocacy group Active and Safe Routes to School describes a walking school bus as “simply a group of children walking together under the supervision of one or more adults following a prescribed route and schedule.” There are currently 12 schools with an active walking school bus program, though none in Centretown.
Glashan Public School on Arlington Avenue, near the busy corner of Kent and Catherine streets, has been a flashpoint for concern among school officials and parents over the years. Various initiatives, including improvements to the Catherine Street crossing, have been implemented to help reduce the risk to students walking to school.
Another measure featured in the report recently tabled at City Hall is the installation of bike racks around schools, which the document states “are part of an ongoing and coordinated effort to ensure that students can safely secure their bicycles on site, and promote a culture of school cycling.”
Cycling safety, however, remains another controversial issue in the downtown area in the wake of a young woman’s death at the corner of Laurier and Lyon streets on Sept. 1 and a series of accidents along O’Connor Street within days of the official Oct. 25 opening of the city’s showcase, two-way segregated bike lane along that route.