Lower speed limits for school zones in the works for Oshawa

Drivers will soon have to permanently slow down in Oshawa’s residential neighbourhoods if a four-year pilot project gets its forever green light.

Further traffic calming measures could also be implemented in school zones, with a 30 km/hr speed limit being proposed. That change will be referred to the Neighbourhood Traffic Management Study for further analysis.

The default unposted rate on all municipal streets is 50 km/hr, save for school zones and in front of parks, where the speed limit is 40 km/hr. Provincial legislation passed in 2017 (the ‘Safer School Zones Act’) provided municipalities with the authority to change the rate of speed for any area within its jurisdiction allowing for entire residential neighbourhoods to be regulated with a maximum posted speed limit of 40 km/h.

Approved in March of this year, the new 40 km/h speed limit areas will be implemented over a four-year period to the end of 2027.

The following month a notice of motion made it to the council floor regarding the reduction of speed limits in school zones to 30 km/hr.

The pilot project and the proposed 30 km/hr school zone speed limits will be at Monday’s Community and Operation Services Committee meeting for debate.

The Municipality of Clarington has already approved the installation of 30 km/h speed limits in school zones, with the warning signs to be installed this year.

Peterborough, Vaughan, Mississauga and Waterloo have also dropped the speed limits in school zones.