ERIN — After years of close calls, some concerned parents are looking for county council's support in lowering speed limits outside Brisbane Public School.
Created by Linda Martin earlier this month, almost 100 people have signed a petition demanding the speed limit outside Brisbane Public School just outside Erin be lowered to 40 km/hour like school zones in surrounding areas to establish a "secure environment" for local children to learn.
Located on Wellington Road 124, the speed limit outside the school is currently 60 km/hour. To change the posted speed limits, county council would have to revise the existing bylaw.
"The safety of our children is our foremost concern," said Martin, in the petition. "As parents of Brisbane students, every day we see the dangerous speeds at which cars and trucks often travel in front of the school...Brisbane kids deserve to be kept safe like everyone else."
Recently designated a Community Safety Zone, which increases speeding fines and means a future Automated Speed Enforcement program could be used on-site, County engineer Don Kudo said county council decided to maintain the 60 km/h speed limit outside Brisbane after a technical review in 2021 recommended the speed limit be 70 km/h.
There are two schools on County roads with 60 km/h posted speed limits. Posted speed limits for school zones on County roads range from 40 km/h to 80 km/h.
Brisbane parents like Angus Footman say these measures aren't enough- clarifying that the problem has less to do with speeding and more with the accepted speed limit, which he maintains is unsafe.
Calling the situation frustrating, Footman said he doesn't understand why the area outside of one school would be considered different from another- questioning why county council hasn't taken the opportunity to make the area "safer."
"(The speed limit) needs to be 40, not 60," said Footman. "Yeah, traffic speed is compliant at 60. Cars are going by at 60 every day. But the problem is...if a kid runs out chasing a ball, (a car going 40 km/h) has a chance to stop. Not at 60."
When asked for comment, Erin Mayor Michael Dehn said he counts on the county's engineers to give proper guidance on speed.
"My son went to Brisbane from JK to grade 3...I did not have a concern," said Dehn, in an emailed statement.
Erin County Councillor Jeff Duncan said there have been speeding concerns from Brisbane parents for the last decade that have come up from "time to time" but that he's only received one complaint over the last six years about the area, outside of the current concerns.
The last time Duncan remembers "concerns at this level" was in 2017 when he spearheaded an agreement between the town, county and school boards to cost share and install flashing speed indication signs in front of the school.
"The crust of the problem is there is not enough internal parking or a kiss-and-ride area on the school grounds," said Duncan. "Having students use the bus system where the buses drop and load the children off on the school grounds away from Wellington Road 124 Is the safest situation."
According to Kudo, staff have met with the Upper Grand District School Board staff and one parent to discuss traffic concerns at the school site.
A report on the area is expected at the Roads Committee in November.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
