Clarington residents – primarily from Newcastle – have been calling for safety of students at two schools located on Highway 115/35 where the speed limit is 90 kmh. Vehicles regularly travel at up to 110 kmh, and even more.
The Pines Senior Public School, and Clarke High School, both in Newcastle, are located directly on Highway 115/35. The highway is the main passenger and commercial artery to Peterborough.
In other school zones, mostly in Bowmanville and Courtice, the speed limit has been reduced to 30 kmh (see related stories below) and new stop signs installed.
Yesterday, Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster called on the community to slow down as road tragedies mount (see related stories below).
“In recent weeks, Clarington has seen tragedies on our roadways—young lives taken from us much too soon. Our community is grieving.
Clarington is using tools we have available to keep our roadways safe, from lowering speed limits to installing traffic calming infrastructure. But we can’t do it alone. Driver behaviour has the greatest impact on the severity of traffic collisions: speeding, impaired driving and distracted driving cause serious safety issues on our roads,” said an issued statment.
He called on the community to slow down, drive responsibly, and never drive impaired. “When you get behind the wheel, drive as if you and your neighbour’s life depend on it. Because it does. Together, let’s keep our roadways safe for everyone.”
“Perhaps you can consider asking the Ministry of Transportation for some urgent measures for Newcastle students off the [Highway] 115. The board put up fences to prevent kids from going in the apple orchard, but still nothing to prevent them from running on [the] highway. You need to do more immediately,” he said.
Related Stories
List of Clarington schools where speed is being cut to 30 kmh
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