East-end officials are once again stepping up to push for stronger measures against speeders around area schools, after city staff failed to get behind a previous effort this past spring.

As Orléans Coun. Bob Monette prepares to bring a motion asking the city to create community safety zones around local schools – which would allow for doubled speeding fines – to transportation committee later this month, he joined Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) trustee Stephen Blais outside Convent Glen Catholic School on Thursday, Aug. 27 to unveil a new speeding radar.

The setup alongside Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard – one of several to appear across the city with signage reminding drivers to slow down and a radar gun tracking passing vehicles and displaying their speed on a digital board – comes as part of a previously-established city program but illustrates well what the motion is trying to do, Monette suggested.

In April, the OCSB passed a motion in support of increasing fines near schools as part of so-called community safety zones, which municipals councils can designate under the Highway Traffic Act, continued Blais.

“I was getting a lot of complaints from parents about speeding at Convent Glen, especially during school hours,” recounted the Orléans-Cumberland trustee, with parents calling in concerns about vehicles zipping down Jeanne d’Arc and even through red lights.

“Intersections like this are the worst areas,” Monette added, indicating the nearby connections leading to and from Highway 417 and pointing to speeds as high as 60 to 80 kilometres an hour along the 40 km/h stretch. “People come off the Queensway and come speeding down the road.”

Both have already met with Convent Glen’s principal and the school’s parent advisory council on the issue, he said. City staff, however, rejected the call for community safety zones earlier this year, Blais explained, based on a pre-amalgamation study that questioned their effectiveness.

“(It concluded) they were not effective in reducing speeding,” he recounted, suggesting that decade-old data and the fact the study only looks at community safety zones as an isolated approach are reasons why staff shouldn’t discount the method now.

The new radar setup and proposed safety zones are only two components of what should be a multi-pronged approach, Blais suggested. Police enforcement of speeding regulations, education about the dangers of driving too fast and fines to discourage speeders are also required in order to drive the point home and make an impact, he added.

In particular, establishing community safety zones and allowing police to double speeding fines would be enough of a leap on even smaller tickets to dissuade drivers from going too fast, Blais continued.

“I’d rather pay $100 than $200,” he noted.

With the motion to be tabled in coming weeks, Monette said he hopes to see city staff support the initiative this time around, and for the potential legislation to push through to council.

“We want to do an in-depth analysis and see what we can do to take proper action,” he added. “The safety of children should be the priority.”