CREMONA - The Village of Cremona will present Didsbury RCMP with recently collected data showing speeding remains a significant concern on Highway 22 through the municipality, said chief administrative officer Karen O’Connor.
During the March 19 council meeting, councillors approved sending out the data collected through the use of a tracker rented by the municipality.
The tracking took place March 9-13, with 268 pages of data collected, including speed, time, date, number of vehicles, and size of vehicles on the 60 kilometres an hour (km/h) section.
The monitoring found that the average speed of vehicles passing through the section in the village was 72.19 km/h, with the maximum speed recorded being 129 km/h. In all, 5,913 vehicles were tracked.
“We are going to present the data to the RCMP so they are aware of the speed and the infractions that are happening there on a daily basis,” O’Connor told the Albertan. “It’s a tough situation and it is a dangerous situation.”
Concerns about speeding on the stretch of roadway prompted council in November to ask the province to install larger speed limit signs at the location.
At the time Coun. Jody Dick outlined concerns vis-a-vis speeding at the location.
“There has been many comments and concerns regarding the speed of traffic through the village at Highway 22 and Highway 580,” said Dick. “I share those concerns.
“The problem is few motorists are following the posted limits. I would like to suggest larger 60 km/h signs in hopes of gaining more attention to the travelling public.
“This would be an inexpensive changeover from the regular size signs to larger ones and hopefully alleviate some of the issues. I understand that there will always be those who don’t follow posted limits regardless of the size of sign or the number of flashing lights.”
At the time CAO O’Connor said, “Residents of the trailer park on the west side of the highway are particularly concerned with the speed of vehicles moving through the intersection.
“Ninety-seven per cent of the residents in the trailer park are seniors. There is a big percentage of those seniors who do not drive, so they are the ones who feel they can’t get across fast enough. There are even a couple ladies there who simply refuse to walk there anymore.”
The request for larger signs was subsequently denied, with Michael Baik, operations manager - Red Deer District, with Transportation and Economic Corridors saying in a letter to the village: “Consistency in applying these signs sizes provincially provides motorists with an expected standard, which helps ensure that speed signs are recognized regardless of the community that the highway passes through.”
On March 19, council passed a motion that Coun. Dick present the data collected to the local RCMP detachment.
Public works crews keeping busy
In other news from the recent council meeting, O’Connor said public works crews are keeping very busy in the village these days.
As well as being busy with lots of snow removal over the past 30 days, crews have also spent time researching for a module for the lagoon, installing new tires on the plow truck, writing several compliance letters, processing a request from Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, as well as other activities.
On the administration side, staff has been working on the 2024 budget, correspondence with auditors and lawyers, working on the 2024 show and shine planning, and other activities.
At the March 19 meeting, council approved the 2024 Cremona Spring Cleanup, which will take place May 24-27.
Council also received the Cremona Municipal Library board's monthly report as information.
