Along Redwing Road, near the Mark's 9 turnoff, are at least two signs advising of the 50 km/hr speed limit. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Public safety

RM plans to reduce speed, hits stop sign

Aug 12, 2022 | 3:00 PM

Just three weeks after taking steps to reduce the speed of traffic along Redwing Road, the Rural Municipality (RM) of Buckland council has opted to go back to the way things were.

A small delegation of concerned residents were at Monday’s council meeting and expressed their feeling they were being unfairly targeted and there was no need for the speed bumps at the turnoff to Mark’s 9.

In the end, council agreed and the vote was unanimous. Reeve Don Fyrk acknowledged there are some people along the road who wants the strips but added the majority were against them.

“So we took them out and they promised that they would do the speed limit,” he said.

The strips laid on the east side of the intersection had been planned two years ago, but due to the pandemic the work was not completed until last month.

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“If we get more complaints about speeders out there, we will put them back in,” Fyrk said.

Lynn Splawinski lives near the intersection and told paNOW she was in support of the strips, or ar least something to reduce speed. She was also among those at Monday’s meeting.

“I came in an said, well, you know, I’ve got young kids and you guys are going 80 plus km/hr down this road…’oh none of us speed. I said, okay, but somebody is speeding,” she said.

Splawinski explained there’s about a dozen acreages affected and figures only about half were represented at the meeting. Moving forward, Splawinski said she has asked for the RM’s Community Safety Officer (CSO) to come to the area more often.

“If everyone is claiming they are not speeding, then it should not be a problem for the CSO to sit there and give tickets,” she said.

Ken Malenfant was also at Monday’s meeting and described the overall tone as amicable, with people who in the area listening to each other. Malenfant explained he was no idea why the strips were put in in the first place.

“I think it was a knee jerk reaction and they made it right,” he said.

Malenfant added the bigger issue the RM needs to deal with is the north and southbound traffic at the corner.

“In the last winter alone we probably had two dozen near misses right at the intersection because they don’t stop at the stop sign,” he said.

Malenfant also commented on the concrete blocks that had been put beside the strips, explaining they too posed a danger should someone hit them.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell