A Manitoba grandmother is leading a call to lower the speed limit on a portion of highway where her granddaughter was hit and killed earlier this month.

Margaret Racette said she has more than 600 signatures on a petition that would change the speeds on Highway 278, where it passes through on Ebb and Flow First Nation, about 185 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

That's where her granddaughter, Taylor Racette Catcheway, was hit while crossing the road on her way home shortly before midnight on July 18. The 19-year-old was nearly five months pregnant at the time.

"She was such an outgoing kid. She always had a smile on her face," Racette said of her granddaughter.

"She was always kind to everybody and it really affected a lot of her friends, from all over, because she lived in different areas growing up. A lot of people knew her, a lot of youth. We received so much condolences on Facebook, through her page and our pages."

The 52-year-old driver of the car wasn't hurt, and police said at the time alcohol isn't believed to be a factor.

The speed limit on the road is 100 km/h right now as it passes through the community, Racette said. It's heavily used, she added, and the community's health centre, grocery store, band office, school and arena are all located on either side of it.

Her petition is asking the province to lower the speed limit to 70 km/h when it enters Ebb and Flow First Nation, then drop down to 50 km/h for roughly three kilometres as it passes the health centre.

That would continue until the highway enters the neighbouring community of Bacon Ridge, where Racette said the speed limit is already set at 70 km/h.

"I want it done right away," she said. "We've had so many people hurt and killed on that highway and enough's enough."

Government 'has no say' in speed limits: Minister

In an emailed statement, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said currently, the government itself can't change speed limits.

Instead, people seeking a change to a speed limit must make an application to the province's Highway Traffic Board, which the government doesn't control.

Schuler called the current process to request a change to speed limits "cumbersome [and] excessively bureaucratic."

"The government has no say in this process, and no ability to listen to the people that government is supposed to represent. We will fix this," he said in the statement.

Schuler said the proposed Traffic and Transportation Modernization Act, introduced by the Progressive Conservative government earlier this year, would eliminate the Highway Traffic Board, putting speed limits in the hands of the government itself.

The legislation is slated to be enacted in spring of 2019, he said.

Schuler said the government will "immediately consider" the community's request once that happens.

"While none of this will erase the tragic loss to this family and the community, we will create a process that will better respond to their concerns going forward."