Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/9/2014 (2202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the third time in two years, a cloud hangs over the issuing of speeding tickets in Winnipeg.

The bylaw authorizing new 30 km/h signs in school zone is being rewritten to correct errors and omissions identified by a local citizen action group.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Students run across Lakewood Boulevard near École Van Belleghem School Tuesday.

Winnipeg Police said they will still ticket speeders in the new 30 km/zones but the legitimacy of the original bylaw is being questioned.

Chris Sweryda, of WiseUp Winnipeg, a citizen action group specializing in city traffic and enforcement issues, said more than half the school zones are not legal.

Sweryda said the Highway Traffic Act is very specific about what the city has to have in its bylaws before it is allowed to enforce reduced speeds, adding the new bylaw does not meet that criteria.

'The tickets are unenforceable with the bylaws in their current state' ‐ Chris Sweryda of Wise Up Winnipeg

"I’ve gone through (the new bylaw) with a highlighter and the thing looks like an art project," Sweryda said, adding anyone getting a ticket should fight it because the bylaws are "completely messed up."

The new bylaw was passed by Winnipeg city council at its meeting in June. Speeding fines in school zones start at $181.50 for going 10 km/h over the posted speed limit.

Drivers caught going 20 km/h over the school-zone limit are fined $312.25.

City officials attempted to downplay the errors, and said the bylaw remains a work in progress.

Sweryda said the errors in the bylaw include the wrong addresses for schools, non-existent schools and improperly marked school zones.

"The tickets are unenforceable with the bylaw in its current state," Sweryda said.

Public works director Brad Sacher, whose department is responsible for the bylaw, would not answer questions about how the errors and omissions came about.

Mayor Sam Katz said he wasn’t aware of the errors in the bylaw until Wednesday morning, adding that amendments will be brought to the Sept. 25 council meeting.

A spokeswoman for Katz’s office later said that there are no errors or omissions in the bylaw, adding the amendments are necessary to reflect where the signs were actually installed.

The spokeswoman said that when crews went out to install the signs during the summer, they discovered some could not be placed as planned because of trees or other obstacles.

The spokeswoman said council will only be presented with a package of amendments to the schedule that accompanied the bylaw, to correct the placement of the signs where they actually ended up.

Meantime, police said they will continue to enforce the bylaw.

City spokeswoman Lisa Fraser said Tuesday provincial regulations require municipalities include the dimensional information of the signs in their bylaws to document the location of each school speed-zone sign, adding that work was not included in the original bylaw.

Winnipeg police Staff Sgt. Rob Riffel, the commander of the central traffic unit, said tickets issued to drivers in the school speed zones were not in areas where the city is revising the documentation of locations to include in the bylaw.

"The WPS is continuing to do enforcement in all school zones that are signed maximum speed 30 km/h," Riffel said. "In these areas, officers will utilize their discretion to educate drivers by providing warnings and ticketing only when the speeds are excessive."

A provincial spokeswoman said the province is not aware of any tickets issued that contravene provincial requirements, so there is no reason for the province to consider voiding tickets.

However, she added anyone who has received a ticket and feels it isn’t valid can contest it in court.

Mayoral candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette said the situation is a demonstration of "the poor city planning that goes on in the City of Winnipeg."

"This what my campaign has been about, city planning and how we actually go about putting out these bylaws and designing our city for the long term," Ouellette said. "If they'd been up front about it, I don't think people would have minded because it could have served as an excellent education purpose. The lack of communication that goes on at city hall is just a demonstration of quite a bit of what is wrong with the entire structure. Often, it seems it's more about revenue generation than actually safety."

The reduced speeds are intended to lessen the risk for school patrols, typically Grades 5 and 6 students helping children cross streets before and after school.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca