Ward 3 Couns. Angela Caputo and Ron Zagordo will try to convince their fellow councillors on Tuesday to support the possibility of higher fines for traffic offences near Sault College.
They want the city to look into designating Northern Avenue from Sackville Road to Pine Street, and Pine Street from Northern Avenue to McNabb Street as community safety zones.
The designation wouldn't change the rules of the road in those neighbourhoods, but they would hike fines for traffic offences there.
"I drive through the school zone on Bennett Boulevard in front of Holy Cross daily, because my daughter attends day care in the east end, and no one follows the 40 [km/h speed limit] when I'm driving through for pickup or drop off," Caputo said in a social media post.
"If you hit a child with your car going 50, they're not likely to survive. They're not statistically going to survive at 60, at 70, at 80, and I see people travelling these speeds through school zones every day. It is part of my mission to make that stop."
"I'm hoping with the implementation of community safety zones, that we're going to see better signage. We're going to see these areas being enforced more.
"I'm hoping to see more police in the area. I'm hoping that if we can get the automated speed enforcement, that's going to force people to slow down."
Here's the wording that Caputo and Zagordo will be presenting at Tuesday's city council meeting.
The meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 5 p.m.
Community Safety Zones
Mover: Coun. A. Caputo
Seconder: Coun. R. Zagordo
Whereas community safety zones are defined as segments of roadways where public safety is of special concern and may include roadways near parks/playgrounds, daycare centres, recreation areas, hospitals, senior centres/residences and areas with a large concentration of pedestrian activity; and
Whereas Sault College enrolment has increased significantly in the last 10 years, increasing population and foot traffic in the area; and
Whereas a number of elementary schools have amalgamated, effectively creating super schools and/or schools with higher enrolment in the area; and
Whereas speeding has been identified as a major issue around the city. This is documented to be well over the posted 40 km/hr in many school zones including St. Paul School (posting 59.5 km/h as 85th percentile speed) and Boreal French Immersion (posting 64.94 km/h as 85th percentile speed); and
Whereas this area has connections to the Hub Trail, new development, Community Safety Zones, buildings housing seniors and citizens with disabilities, as well as many families;
Now therefore be it resolved that staff report back to council regarding designating Northern Avenue from Sackville Road to Pine Street a Community Safety Zone; and regarding designating Pine Street from Northern Avenue to McNabb Street a Community Safety Zone.