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New zones cruising along

Motorists are adjusting to the extended 30km/hr speed limit around Black Diamond’s schools this summer, says a Foothills peace officer. Two speeding tickets have been issued and a few warnings given since the streets surrounding C.

Motorists are adjusting to the extended 30km/hr speed limit around Black Diamond’s schools this summer, says a Foothills peace officer.

Two speeding tickets have been issued and a few warnings given since the streets surrounding C. Ian McLaren School and Oilfields High School were changed from a school zone to playground zone June 30, said peace officer Jim Barry.

“We added a couple more routine drives up and down the road during the daytime and at night,” said Barry. “People are obeying it as far as I can see. So far this summer it’s been fairly good.”

Last spring, Black Diamond town council approved turning the school zone into a playground zone, extending the 30km/hr speed limit to 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily effective June 30.

Previously, the reduced speed limit was in place school days from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“It will stay all day long seven days a week from 7:30 to 9 all the way around the school,” Barry said. “I think it’s a success and hopefully it stays that way. We will know come school time. The traffic volume multiplies 10 times.”

Barry said he has issued two speeding tickets in the new playground zone since it was implemented a month ago.

Those speeding were going approximately 20 over the limit, he said.

Fellow peace officer Devon Bartek said some motorists are still adjusting to the change, and the six warnings he gave out in July is higher than July 2016 due to motorists adjusting to the reduced speed in the summer.

Tickets issued in playground zones cost three demerit points and can range from $89 to $400, Barry said. Speeds reaching 50km/hr or higher above the limit will result in a temporary licence suspension, he said.

Barry said 3rd Street SW, which bypasses both schools, is one of the Town’s major connector roads. It connects the Riverwood and Willow Ridge subdivisions to the downtown core and is the third busiest roadway in town for connector traffic, he said.

“We are having more kids playing at the arena and the park,” he said. “Because of the pump track there is more kids in the area now that will play at the parks.”

Four playground signs have been placed around C. Ian McLaren School and council also agreed to replace the playground zone signs in the community’s three playgrounds – a request that came from Barry.

“The reason I put it forward is the signage was old and in different colours and wrecked,” he said. “The signs are higher and on new poles whereas the old ones weren’t very tall and hidden in different spots. Now they are highly visible.”

Black Diamond Deputy Mayor Mike Ross has found the community response positive.

“We haven’t heard any complaints,” he said. “The people I’ve talked to have said they’re glad it’s the same now and there is no more thinking about it.”

While motorists are compliant during the quiet summer months, Ross said that could change when traffic increases with the start of school.

“It is going to make a difference come September but I don’t think it will be much of a difference that it will bother the general public,” he said. “Once people get off the two main highways they have a tendency to drive pretty slow anyway.”

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