9 | durhamregion.com This Week | Thursday, August 18, 2022 | @TurnbullWhitby 905-665-8182 • RyanTurnbull@parl.gc.ca TurnbullWhitby.ca I write to the residents of Whitby on a weekly basis to keep them aware of my work to make our town the best place to live, work and play. Sign up to receive these updates by sending me an email at: Ryan.Turnbull@parl.gc.ca Stay inf+med Back-to-school season is weeks away, which means safety in school zones is on the minds of many residents across Durham. More speed limit enforcement, new traffic calming measures, and additional stop signs and crosswalks are some of the most common requests community members have for school zones. For example, longtime Ajax resident Allan Davidson worries about drivers speeding on Coles Avenue where Applecroft Public School and St. Jude Catholic School are located close together. "I look at these two schools and it's an accident waiting to happen," he says. Davidson has asked the municipality to install speed limit signs in the centre of the road where they would be more visible, as well as speed bumps in front of the schools. The Town of Ajax has responded to Davidson's concerns and is looking at adding Coles Avenue to the rotation for automatic speed enforcement cameras. In north Oshawa, parents at Beau Valley and Kedron public schools shared similar concerns with durhamregion.com, saying there should be traffic calming measures in front of the schools -- parents in both areas say vehicles regularly fly by the schools at 80 kilometres per hour. Officials say changing trends around walking to school are impacting traffic in many areas of the region. "More families are choosing to drive their children to school, and the volume of traffic is a challenge for neighbourhoods with school sites that were designed to be 'walking schools,'" says Lisa Bianca, head of facilities services for the Durham District School Board. Initiatives like "walking school buses," can be helpful, local school boards also work with the Region of Durham on ways to promote walking or wheeling to school. What do residents need to know about getting action on traffic concerns around schools? Start with making the right contacts. • Concerns about traffic on school property can be directed to individual schools or the school board, while concerns related to speeding or not complying with stop signs or traffic lights should be directed to Durham Regional Police. • Requests for new crosswalks, stop signs, traffic lights, traffic calming measures, speed limit changes and speed cameras are the responsibility of municipalities. • Residents can start by contacting municipal staff, and may also loop in municipal or regional councillors or their mayor's office. When there are traffic concerns, Bianca says school board and municipal staff often visit sites together to observe traffic and work on solutions jointly, sometimes involving police if concerns relate to drivers not complying with traffic laws. "We try to come to solutions that respect the needs of the school for timing of bus drop off and pick up, parent kiss 'n ride operation as well as overall neighbourhood safety," she says. WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SCHOOL TRAFFIC CONCERNS JILLIAN FOLLERT jfoller t@durhamregion.com NEWS ONE AJAX RESIDENT CALLS SPEEDING NEAR SCHOOLS 'AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN' Allan Davidson, a longtime Ajax resident, is concerned about safety issues around two elementary schools on Coles Avenue: St. Jude Catholic School and Applecroft Public School. He asked the town to look at traffic calming measures such as speed limit signs in the centre of the road and speed bumps. Susie Kockerscheidt/Metroland