No ‘one size fits all approach’ to tackle school traffic: York Region

Initiatives include red-light cameras, Bluetooth sensors, designated safety zones

Yorkregion.com
June 27, 2023
Melissa Wallace

Many parents and guardians are breathing a collective sigh of relief for getting through a school year of traffic chaos at morning drop-off and afternoon pickup.

In May, we shared Richmond Hill resident Jack Ponte’s perspective of traffic congestion in his neighbourhood near St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic High School, and received several letters from people essentially saying, “This is what we go through, too.”

Nelson Costa, York Region manager, Corridor Control and Safety, shared what the region is doing to protect communities in school safety zones.

“Every school’s traffic is different and we can’t use a one size fits all approach,” he said. “York Region investigates on a case-by-case basis to determine if signal timing adjustments and/or future improvements are needed to keep the traffic moving.”

In St. Theresa of Lisieux CHS’ case, the region studied the traffic flow in the area in May and made changes, including an advanced left-turn arrow for vehicles turning left from Bathurst Street onto Shaftsbury Avenue, established specialized scheduled timing plans and adjusted traffic signal timing in the area. The region said it plans to monitor the improvements and adjust as necessary.

In May 2021, regional council approved a 10-kilometre per hour school zone speed limit reduction and consistent school zone maximum speed signage to include the times, days and months, informing motorists when the lower speed limit was in effect

All school zones have also been designated, "community safety zones," an attempt to help change driving behaviour, Costa said, including reducing speed and distracted driving, and increasing safety on roads.

Ponte hopes the changes will help, but said people are still parking wherever they want and ignoring road signs. With a whole new batch of students coming in September, he believes enforcing rules is still the only way to get through to the community.

“Don't waste my taxpayer dollars putting up signs that you're not prepared to enforce,” said Ponte. “You can put up signs till the cows come home, but if you don't enforce them, nothing happens.”

Other York Region initiatives to help increase safety in school zones include red-light cameras, automated speed enforcement and a pedestrian and cycling intersection pilot.

“York Region has more than 2,000 intersections on regional roads and more than 850 of those are controlled with traffic signals,” said Costa. “We work closely with York Regional Police to develop traffic safety programs and campaigns to increase safety.”

The police encourage the public to file a Road Watch complaint at https://www.yrp.ca/roadwatch if there is an area in your community that requires police attention, for example, a stop sign that no one stops at or constant speeding down a stretch of road. You can call 911 or file a Road Watch complaint if you believe a driver is impaired, driving erratically, displaying road rage behaviour, or is posing an immediate threat to the public.

York Region also installed more than 430 Bluetooth sensors on the regional road network which allows the region to measure travel times to identify areas that need to be addressed through short-term measures and long-term planning.

“Traffic cameras, traffic management systems and weather tracking software allow staff to address and resolve traffic issues, triage local requests and respond immediately to incidents,” said Costa. “The Road and Traffic Operations Centre operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Another effort to prevent collisions and encourage a “traveller safety culture,” Costa said, is through the development of the region’s Traveller Safety Plan. Earlier this year, the region asked residents to contribute their thoughts to get to the core of changing traveller behaviour.

The plan will include actions for each type of traveller, such as pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, small delivery vehicles, motor vehicles, trucks, transit and motorcyclists. It will be presented to regional council in late 2023.