A solar electronic speed sign will be installed on Durham Street West near Victoria Cross Public School in Mount Forest.
Wellington North council decided on June 8 to move forward with the proposal from the Wellington North Safe Communities Committee.
The committee proposed it would buy the sign at a cost of $3,118 with money from fundraising over the last two years. But the committee asked for the township’s assistance with installation and ongoing maintenance of the sign.
“Our committee has identified speeding on Durham Street by Victoria Cross school as a safety concern with parents dropping off their kids,” said Gary Williamson, chair of the committee.
“One of the ways we thought that we’d be able to combat this is an electronic speed sign to make people aware the speed they are going.”
Councillor Steve McCabe brought up a concern that people may try to see how fast they can go after concerns were raised with an attempt to install something similar on Wellington Road 14 in Arthur.
Williamson said the sign only reads up to 99km/h, so he doesn’t foresee an issue. He also mentioned Grand Valley has installed an electronic speed sign near its school.
“When you put a sign up and … all of a sudden you’ve got lights flashing at you telling you how fast you are going, traffic tends to slow down,” said Williamson.
Councillor Sharon Burke mentioned the portable sign the township already owns, and asked why the township should maintain two signs when it is not using the portable one to its full capacity. “Eventually it will be turned over to the municipality to maintain, repair, whatever,” Burke said.
“My question is, and I appreciate the fact that your group is willing to purchase it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s going to be something the municipality is going to take care of in the future, if we already have a portable sign that we are not using, could we not be posting it here?”
Wellington North CAO Michael Givens said the portable signs can go anywhere that they are needed, while this sign is intended to stay put.
The installation of the sign should be complete before the start of the next school year.
