École Oceanside Elementary School has received funding to purchase portable traffic calming measures, including two-solar powered radar feedback signs and crosswalk signs.
Funding of $17,580 through the Vision Zero in Road Safety Grant Program was awarded to the school’s Parent Advisory Council, who applied for it last year.
Originally built as a middle school, École Oceanside wasn’t designed to accommodate primary students and families dropping off their children.
“Our school has approximately 500 families using the roadways and walking paths around the school, and PAC volunteers have spent a number of years advocating for improved road safety in the area,” says Angel Delange, École Oceanside Elementary PAC chair. “After receiving reports of near-misses and situations where, while crossing, a student had to stop abruptly because a driver did not see them in the crosswalk, we were elated when we received the Vision Zero grant. The equipment will help bring awareness to drivers’ speeds around our school and help keep our community of families and learners safe.”
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Island Health is also pleased to be part of the province-wide Vision Zero in Road Safety Grant Program.
“École Oceanside Elementary School’s traffic calming project is a great example of how this program is helping to improve safety for some of the most vulnerable road users like children walking and riding their bikes to school,” said Neil Arason, Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Lead at Island Health. “We are so pleased to work with community partners, like the École Oceanside Elementary School PAC, who took the initiative to make this important road safety project a reality.”
The British Columbia Vision Zero in Road Safety Grant Program is a road safety initiative that provides funding to local governments, Indigenous governments and non-governmental organizations, for projects that improve the safety of roads in their communities.
“We’re proud to fund École Oceanside Elementary School’s traffic calming project to keep children, families and the community safer,” said Adam Walker, MLA for Parksville-Qualicum. It’s positive to see new, innovative measures like solar-powered radar feedback signs and crosswalk safety signs in the neighbourhood.”
The premise of the program is that road deaths and injuries are unacceptable and preventable. Funding is provided by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and delivered through regional health authorities.
— NEWS Staff, submitted