120 new reduced-speed school zones coming to Winnipeg in 2015

Winnipeg City Council will consider lowering the speed in more school zones across the city Wednesday.

• Winnipeg school zone speed limits dip to 30km/h today

Councillors will decide whether toamenda by-law that would allow for the addition of 120 reduced-speed zones. The city said by-law amendments at the provincial level in August will allow for thecreation of more school zones at the municipal level.

The implementation of reduced-speed school zones is intended to make the transportation system more forgiving for children, who tend to have the most difficulty gauging the speed of vehicular traffic, Luis Escobar, the city's manager of transportation, said in a release Tuesday.

The expectation is that all of the newly proposed school zones will be approved by February, 2015, which will be followed by the installation of nearly 5,000 "30 km/hr" street signs along roads inschool zones.

A first wave of reduced-speed school zones came in September, when the speed limit around 171 Winnipeg schools was reduced to 30 kilometres per hour.

The new limits arein effect from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday and will remain in effect until June.