Today’s pop quiz for folks who live in Oro-Medonte: What’s the speed limit in the township's school zones?
The answer? It depends on where the school is located.
If the school is on a township road, the speed limit is 50 kilometres per hour. If the school is located on a county road, the speed limit is either 50 or 60 km/h.
Both are substantially higher than the 40-km/h limit that's in place in Barrie.
“Consistent speed limits contribute to a safe and more predictable driving environment,” Oro-Medonte resident Jane Voorheis told township council during a recent presentation which advocated for consistent and lower speed limits in the municipality's numerous school zones.
“Implementing a 40-km/h speed limit would provide consistency across neighbouring areas, reducing confusion for drivers travelling between neighbouring townships," she added.
According to Voorheis, who made her deputation before township council on behalf of the group called Friends of the Future, if the municipality were to lower the speed limit to 40 km/h in all school zones in the township, it would provide drivers with a standard speed limit across the region and would create a much safer environment for children, who, she said, have slower reaction times than adults and lack the ability to accurately judge distances.
Voorheis said reducing the speed limit in school zones across Oro-Medonte would go a long way to reduce the possibility of a fatality in the township’s school zones.
“According to Transport Canada, a child stuck by a vehicle travelling 50 km/h is eight times more likely to die than a child being hit by a car travelling 40 km/h,” she said.
Currently, Voorheis said, Oro-Medonte regulates the speed limit at three schools that are located on township roads — East Oro Public School, Guthrie Public School and Warminster Elementary School.
The speed limit is 50 km/h.
Simcoe County regulates the speed limit at W.R. Best Memorial Public School, Shanty Bay Public School and Moonstone Elementary as they’re located on county roads.
The speed limit near W.R. Best is 60 km/h, while the speed limit around the Shanty Bay and Moonstone schools is 50 km/h.
Voorheis says she’s talked with a host of folks — parents, teachers, crossing guards — who have all expressed concerns with the speed limit in township school zones.
One person she says she talked with from W.R. Best said it’s just a matter of time until tragedy strikes.
“The speed limit is 60 and they regularly see people going 80 or 90,” Voorheis said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw told Voorheis that township officials share her concerns. He said the township has brought the issue up a number of times with county officials and has asked the upper-tier municipality what can be done to help slow down traffic.
“We have to work with the public and the county to get it consistent across the entire township,” Greenlaw said.
According to the County of Simcoe’s website, residents can contact them in writing if they think the posted speed limit on a county road is incorrect.
“Staff will conduct engineering and traffic studies necessary for establishment of speed zones, including prevailing speed studies, collision history investigations, and investigation of highway, traffic, and roadside conditions not readily apparent to the driver,” the website states.
It then adds: “The solution is not to post a speed zone to an unjustifiably low speed and then expect law enforcement to control the violators by constant monitoring. Police agencies do not, and indeed cannot afford to lie in wait constantly for speeders in a multitude of locations.”
