Now that spring is here, more kids are walking to school.
Ward 10 Councillor Virginia Ridley wants to make their walk safer.
She believes the current speed limit is too high and it's putting children in danger. "The chance of survival drastically decreases as speeds increase," says Ridley. "So, if we get the speeds down, should there be any collisions, they won't be fatal ones." According to Ridley, road safety isn't just in the hands of drivers. She says parents and teachers need to educate children. "The safest thing that we can do is have more kids walking to and from school," she says. "The more kids that are walking to school, the more visible they are and drivers become more alert." In Ontario, the speed limit in urban school zones is 40 km/h. On rural school roads its 50 km/h. Ridley wants those numbers reduced to 30 km/h and 40 km/h. City council will be reviewing Ridley's request to lower school zone speed limits at Tuesday's meeting.
**This story was written by Brooke Foster, a student in the Broadcast Journalism program at Fanshawe College. Brooke is currently performing an internship with BlackburnNews.com.