Safety is top of mind for a councillor who has proposed changes to Wellington Road 124 in front of Brisbane Public School.
At the June 20 meeting, Erin council, led by councillor Matt Sammut, approved a motion asking Wellington County to lower the speed limit on the road near the school from 60km/h to 40km/h during transition periods.
Town council is also asking for the section to be designated a school zone with yellow flashing lights.
Sammut said the mix of cars, traffic and young children is a cause for concern.
“It makes no sense to me that we wouldn’t say that this is a school zone for transition periods – an hour and a half in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon, so we make it much safer for our families and children,” he said.
“That should be our top priority in government.”
Sammut said many parents have flexible work hours, which allows students to be dropped off and picked up instead of using buses.
Brisbane Public School is a rural school, where the majority of students are bused in.
“(Parents) don’t like their kids being put on the same bus as high school kids,” said Sammut.
“Myself as a parent, I make sure myself or my wife, we will take our kids, because I want them to avoid that environment.”
Mayor Allan Alls, who sits on the county roads committee, said he brought the issue up at the committee’s June 13 meeting.
“Number one, they feel strongly that it’s a school board issue, that school was created as a rural school not an urban school,” said Alls.
“As a rural school, it’s supposed to be busing. They gave me the numbers. In Brisbane, there are 404 students; of the 404, 380 (94%) are bused.”
Alls added Ponsonby Public School is in a 60km/h zone and two Mennonite schools are in 80km/h zones.
“They are saying, ‘What is the issue here?’” said Alls.
Councillor Jeff Duncan suggested the town send a letter to the Upper Grand District School Board to improve its site design.
“They are just as responsible as we are. They need to find the money to improve their site,” Duncan said.
“Maybe from a technical perspective … [the speed limit] doesn’t need to be lowered, but if the community really wants that, and it’s democracy in action, then that’s what should happen.
“The number one priority for (the UGDSB) should be the safety of their students, so they need to budget appropriately to be able to do that, in partnership with the county in changing the signs.”
Council approved the motion unanimously.
County councillor and roads committee chair Gary Williamson told the Advertiser in an interview that Wellington Road 124 at Brisbane Public School has been an ongoing issue.
“We’ve done what we need to do out there,” he said.
“We’ve gone through the (Transportation Association of Canada guidelines), which is the regulations that we run under and it meets the criteria for what it should be.”
Williamson said the guidelines make roads safer for all users and are applied county wide.
He said the committee has made changes in the area including a no parking zone on the opposite side of the road.
“We have made changes out there, and … we contacted the school board and they’ve made some changes on the school property,” said Williamson.
“We’ve stopped the parents from parking on the opposite side of the road because they were parking there and trying to walk kids across the road, so who’s putting the kids in danger?”
He said the parents have the option to bus children.
“Brisbane is a busing school and these parents choose not to use the busing, and if they have concerns about dropping kids off or whatever, then they need to speak to the school board,” he said.
The letter from Erin council was sent to the roads committee and will likely be discussed at the next meeting in September.
