Collingwood, ON [06 June 2025] – Late last summer, the Town announced that Council confirmed its commitment to community safety and safer streets by implementing a new reduced speed limit for both School and Community Safety Zones (CSZ), to 30 Km/hour.
Many of the new School and CSZ signs were installed late August and into September of 2024, with additional signage to be installed around town in the coming weeks.
“While the 30 km/hour speed limit in these zones is not new news, additional signs are going up soon, and we wanted to remind everyone to ‘Slow Your Roll’ and stay alert for all those using active modes – whether they’re walking, biking, scooting, or otherwise,” says Mayor Yvonne Hamlin.
The speed limit reductions ensure consistency, towards a positive impact on drivers’ behaviour (this includes cyclists). The key focus of a 30km/h school zone implementation is to emphasize the most vulnerable areas, which are the local school zones. Specifically, within 150m of the school property limits, where students and guardians are more concentrated. These are to be coupled with enhanced pavement markings to further define their special characteristics.
Staff will continue to take steps to implement tools that improve safety by focusing on the most vulnerable areas first, with annual projects that focus resources on community safety zones and traffic calming projects.
“It’s an important community safety initiative intended to promote safe driving in the areas of our community where you can expect to see increased pedestrian traffic,” says Trevor McKean, Community Safety Officer, Collingwood OPP. “You will regularly see the police in these zones to monitor traffic and take enforcement action if necessary. Remember – Slow Your Roll!”
Feedback within the Master Mobility & Transportation Plan (MMTP), and the Speed Limit Review requested by Council, will be further reviewed to address the areas of concern concerning safety and speed in Collingwood. The final Public Information Centre is being scheduled for mid-September, which will provide members of the public an opportunity to review and provide feedback on the recommendations of the MMTP.
About Community Safety Zones (CSZ) and School Zones (SZ)
The implementation of CSZs and SZs are important safety enhancement measures. CSZs and SZs are a special designation of a roadway section, as defined under the Highway Traffic Act (HTA). CSZs are sections of roadway where fines for traffic violations are increased by implementing the special designation through municipal by-law adoption. SZs in Ontario can be identified by a yellow sign with two pedestrians walking together, and typical speed limits in a SZ are between 30 km/h and 40km/h. These decisions are based on industry best practices associated with CSZs, SZs, and OTM Standards.
