SUNDRE – A resident who moved to the east side of Sundre more than a year ago has serious concerns about excessive speeds of motorists who are either coming into Sundre or heading east up the hill and out of town.
Craig Smith, a former trucker with decades of behind-the-wheel experience who now owns a property adjacent Highway 27, appeared as a delegate to address Sundre council during the regular March 11 meeting.
“Most of the speeding on Highway 27, is anywhere from 60 to 80 kilometres per hour (km/h),” Smith claimed, adding the posted limit is 50 km/h.
“I’ve already lost two dogs. I’ve only been living here for just over a year,” he said.
Although his concerns apply to all traffic generally speaking, he mentioned eastbound heavy loads and semis that build up momentum to go up the hill at excessive speeds before the limit transitions to 80 km/h and eventually 100 km/h.
“There’s no excuse for any of these guys to be speeding,” said the former trucker by trade, expressing concerns that it’s just a matter of time before someone gets hurt or killed.
“And for what, to be ahead by 35 seconds, maybe 40?”
Among his recommended courses of action to curb speeders was to install a photo radar device with a sign informing motorists that traffic laws are photo controlled.
“All I’m asking for, is just enforce it!” he said about the 50 km/h zone that comes on the heels of a transition from highway speeds.
“As soon as they get past the (50 kph) sign, they’re coming past my house at 80, 70,” he said, going onto ask how much tickets have been issued along that specific stretch of road.
“I’m going to keep coming back (to council) almost every single time I can until something’s done,” he said.
“This is getting to be ridiculous,” he said.
Thanking Smith for his presentation, mayor Richard Warnock turned to his colleagues for discussion.
Coun. Todd Dalke said he totally agreed that there are motorists – whether truckers or regular drivers – who speed both on their way into as well as out of town.
However, Dalke – who owns the local Fountain Tire on the south side of Highway 27 at the bottom of the hill – said he can also attest to the fact police and peace officers do enforce traffic laws.
“I can use my parking lot as proof that they do a lot of monitoring of that area; they do a lot of tickets, a lot of times before we’re open, after we’re closed,” said Dalke.
“The RCs as well as our bylaw do patrol that area, and quite a bit,” he said.
Town’s traffic study “shows different”
When Smith claimed “90 per cent” of the vehicles are speeding, Dalke pointed to traffic studies recently conducted by the municipality’s peace officer.
“We have research that shows different,” the councillor said.
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Coun. Chris Vardas echoed Dalke’s comments about the data presented to council indicating that overall, not many people are speeding – at least not when a digital display that tells drivers how fast they’re going is in place.
Vardas also expressed sorrow for the loss of Smith’s dogs.
“At the same time, your dogs shouldn’t be on the highway; they should be restrained,” said the councillor, to which Smith acknowledged.
Vardas added there are ongoing efforts to enforce the speed limit.
“We do monitor it as much as we can, but we can’t have somebody there 24-hours a day,” he said.
“Is (speeding) a concern? 100 per cent. Can we control everybody out there? No.”
As for photo radar, Vardas was skeptical the device would substantially impact driver behaviour as the only penalty is a fine with no demerits.
“At the end of the day, I think our municipality and our bylaw officers try to do the best they possibly can with the tools they have,” he said. “But we can’t also put all our energies onto one road.”
Coun. Jaime Marr asked Smith if he’d been in contact with any of the trucking companies he’d expressed concerns about.
Smith said he had called several of them.
“They said they would do their best to bring it under control,” he said. “I’ve actually called them more than once.”
Sundre has no jurisdiction over highway
As a matter of background, Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, said municipalities with populations of more than 10,000 can apply for city status that grants them control of roads and highways that go through their communities.
“We do not have authority or jurisdiction over Highway 27 coming through the town,” Nelson said, adding there have been very few formal complaints about speeding submitted to the municipality since 2018, none of which pertained to Highway 27.
Sam Zhao, the community’s peace officer, referred to the recent traffic studies that showed about 2.8 per cent of motorists drive at 60 km/h while only 0.2 per cent are going 70 km/h or more.
The peace officer also wanted to point out that “there are a lot of rules” regulating the use of photo radar – including being prohibited from installing them in transition areas with rapid changes in speed – and that regulations have changed in recent years.
“Photo radar … cannot be used for revenue generation, it must be used for transportation safety,” he added. “That’s just because they used to be fishing holes, cash cows.”
But perhaps most important, said Zhao, are relatively new rules that as of 2019 prohibit municipalities from installing new photo radar equipment.
“Photo radar is really no longer a thing,” he said.
Council to further discuss options
The mayor told Smith council does not disagree that there are motorists who speed.
“I drive this town daily and there are times when there are people speeding. But they’re not going 80 or 90 kilometres an hour,” said Warnock.
“Distracted driving is a challenge in our world,” he said, adding drivers don’t always pay attention to speed limit signs.
However, digital signs that display motorists their speed do seem to catch their attention, he said, adding the matter would be further discussed during council’s upcoming spring workshop.
“Don’t think that this hasn’t been heard.”
