It’s nice to know there will be comfortable times at City Hall for the rest of 2017.
All is well in the Energy City it seems.
There was nary a squeak from the assembled masses representing all the coffee corners and kitchen tables in Estevan when city council tabled this year’s budget.
There are no pressing issues it seems.
Well, there may be one, but it’s a small bump in the road … literally.
The biggest debate unearthed in this city deals with the mini-controversy surrounding speed humps on Wellock Road.
The idea of instituting a physical “slow down” speed bump (or hump) is preferred, as opposed to continual warnings, new reduce speed zone signs, and police surveillance and ticketing activities.
One to three speed humps will automatically force Wellock Road motorists to hit brakes at various intervals along their journey. The humps are a nuisance, but the powers that be can righteously emit the old line, “we told you so. We warned you. You didn’t listen. Now you will have speed humps.”
With traffic refusing to obey the 30 km/h speed zone near the one school and ball park along that stretch of road, it seemed almost inevitable that the recommendation to install speed humps would be approved.
Wellock, along with a few other streets in the city, has gained notoriety thanks to the speedway attitude displayed by those who drive on it. It has been a tempting target for the motorists since there are long stretches where Wellock traffic can flow through, unimpeded by stop signs. That won’t change, except there won’t be much of a flow to traffic, but rather a series of stop and go movements, or we should say, “slow and go,” traffic configurations. Those following behind Wellock motorists will have to be on the lookout for brake lights and sudden deceleration.
While we are hopeful this action will solve an ever-lasting problem on Wellock Road, we would be hesitant to give a big thumbs up for this type of solution to be implemented in other areas of the city.
A little stop and go action on a straight stretch of roadway is not that invasive, but to have speed humps installed in other high traffic and higher speed areas might just prove to be a goodwill killer.
The local population wants to move along smoothly, not in fits and jerks so to introduce bumps or humps in all school and playground zones would be just too erratic and invasive.
However, the problem of slowing the speeders down in these sensitive areas of the city, could continue to be an issue. We expect it will be.
We could beg for more stringent enforcement efforts, but as Estevan Police Chief Paul Ladouceur pointed out, that method can’t always be counted on since police constables are constantly on the move.
So while we might like to have police stationed in high traffic and speed zones for a lengthy period, for those who are moving along at 52 km/h instead of the posted 30 km/h it just might not be cost effective.
We did learn, a few years ago of a police force in a major city that did dispatch teams of speed law enforcers during key times of the year such as the first and second day of school and special school activity occasions. The fines were large and frequent, so frequent in fact, that the word got out in rapid fashion, through word of mouth, traditional media and social media, that this was a police department that meant business when it came to school zone speeders. It would have to be a concentrated effort, a very heavily concentrated effort, but it might be a partial solution to the alternative of more speed humps.
