Turtleford, as well as the RM and Town of Mervin, are among the 50 Saskatchewan communities benefiting from SGI’s Provincial Traffic Safety Fund. The fund is investing $550,000 province-wide.
Solar-powered speed signs south of Turtleford will help improve speed management, said Ryan Domotor, the RM of Mervin’s administrator. These signs are more effective, he said, because it is a more visual representation of someone’s speed.
“When you see that flashing light showing you that you're speeding, it just draws more attention than just seeing the sign. The sign says 50 kilometres an hour but if you see that flashing and show you're going 62 or 65. More people slow down when they see them.”
Coming to Turtleford the speed limit is 50 km/hr on the municipal road followed by a residential area and the Lions Park. The signs will be installed sometime in August, Domotor said.
The Town of Turtleford has previously installed coming into the town from the west on Highway 303. Mayor Doug Ask said it worked well on raising awareness of the 50 km/hr speed zone as you enter the town, especially with that road being busy with oil truck traffic. The town collects data from the sign and sends it to the RCMP.
The Traffic Safety Grant will go towards putting more signs up along Highway 26 enter Turtleford from Eston where there are crosswalks.
“We thought if we could get a sign on each side of those crosswalks somewhere on the highway there, that makes long that bunch coming from that way.”
With a population of 500 and not a large tax base, Ask said any grants that they can apply for is beneficial to their community, including the Traffic Safety Grant.
