By Nigel Maxwell

Melfort City Hall hears safety concerns from school principal

Apr 19, 2018 | 5:00 PM

The Principal of a Melfort elementary school has asked city hall to review three intersections in the school’s immediate area to see if more can be done to enhance student safety.

Rodney White said he wants the city’s works and utilities department to focus on the crosswalks at the intersection in front of the school, as well as the crosswalk at Brunswick St. and Stovel Ave.

“The concern I had forwarded to city council was that a lot of the students walk to and from school,” he said, “but we have traffic on those streets literally going from point A to point B and they don’t have any association with the school.”

While safety patrollers help children cross those streets before school, after school, and at lunchtime, White said he would like to see the streets narrowed at the crosswalks, and wanted a median installed as well.

“It becomes a visible presence of a crosswalk,” he said. “Not only in the summer, but more importantly in the winter when all the crosswalk paint is covered up by snow and ice.”

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White said he would also like the city to take a look at the intersection located to the northeast corner of the school’s playground, where young children arrive for daycare. As it stands, he said, the only traffic control measures at that intersection are stop signs posted on the north and south corners. 

“There a lot of kids walking through that intersection, and some at a very young age,” he said. “Could we maybe look at a four-way stop there to bring that flow of traffic to a stop?”

White said no children have been injured by vehicles, and no formal complaints have come in from any parents, but he wants to work with city administration and be proactive before an incident occurs.

Mayor Rick Lang said changes are unlikely to happen until next school year, as the proposals would have to go through the committee process before coming to council for a vote.

“It’s not long before the school season is over, and so probably it’s something we would look at at the end of the school year,” he said.

Lang said the works and utilities department is looking at the situation and will decide if a solution is needed immediately, or if it’s something that requires more study.

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell