'They can't happen all in one day': School zone signage change premature, bylaw in effect Sept. 1

The switchover of school zone signs may be starting a bit early this year in Yorkton, but the bylaw change is still set to come into effect at the beginning of September. (Brady Lang/CTV News)

Yorkton, Sask. -

Motorists across Yorkton may have seen some early school zone changes, leading up to the start of the school year on Sept. 1.

The updated bylaw isn’t in effect quite yet, but due to a large amount of signage changes, the City of Yorkton started the switchover early, according to René Richard, its Director of Engineering and Asset Management.

“There's a lot of school and parks zones. There's a lot of signs that are being installed. They can't happen all in one day. So it takes a little while to get them installed,” he explained.

“So you’ll notice a few of them were installed a little bit early. And that's good. It's good practice for people to get used to that but technically the bylaw doesn't come into effect till September.”

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The bylaw will not be enforced, with the old rules still in effect until the end of August, Richard added.

He said the city hasn’t received many complaints as of yet, but some haven’t been too pleased with signage placements.

“We have been getting a lot of emails from people that want, or would like to see the sign move a couple of inches here or there. We'll be looking into all of those we'll be inspecting all the signs. Once they're all installed later this week, hopefully, and some need to move a little bit, we'll move them at that time and if some are incorrect, we'll have them fixed as well,” Richard explained.

The changes include expansion of hours for zones near high schools, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. previously, to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, to 40 km/hr.

Additionally, elementary school zones and areas near parks will drop to 30 km/hr, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Richard said motorists may see a grace period linked to the changes.

He added that all of these changes are with the younger students in mind.

“We want our kids to be safe,” he said. “When they're playing in our parks. We want our kids to be safe as we're walking to and from school and that's the main reason for this.”