HawthorneVillager.com

Wow -- the power of the Hawthorne Villager forums!

Or is it the power of Colin B.?

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Both.

Guys, we are fortunate that we have a councillor who is electronically accessible, and gets things done on a timely basis. Good work Colin!!

Regards,
-Riaz

I really hope that part of Steeles Ave gets bumped up from 50km/hr to 60 at least east of Martin to Thompson, after that it goes 60 I believe seems kinda odd. Not like there's a school zone on steeles... lol

Thx for the update

Great !! ... now I don't have to listen to my teenagers witch to me about driving so slow !! I sometimes avoided it due to the fact that it was a 50 ..... not anymore !

Jo

http://www.miltoncanadianchampion.com/n ... cle/292039

Heres a link to the Champion story with comments from both Barry Lee and Colin Best.

Councillor calls speeding blitz ‘dirty pool’
Speed limit increased, but no signs yet posted


Published on Jan 21, 2010

By Tim Foran
METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP


Halton police ran an enforcement blitz earlier this week on drivers going above a 50 km/h speed limit on James Snow Parkway even though regional council increased the limit for the roadway to 70 km/h more than a month ago.


The problem for those caught in the blitz is that, while the bylaw (157-09) setting the higher limit was passed by council and came into effect December 16, works department staff don’t anticipate changing the speed limit signs for a few more days. The bylaw states the new limits aren't enforceable until those signs are posted.


“I'm really pissed off because that's dirty pool,” said Milton's regional councillor for the area, Barry Lee.


He said he had been working on changing the speed limit last year and thought the signs had been corrected. "The police know about it."


Halton Regional Police spokesperson Sgt. Brian Carr confirmed the service did recieve notification of regional council's December decision. However, he pointed out the speed limit south of Derry Road is still technically 50 km/h and police have identified problems with speeding in that area.



He said police gave out numerous tickets earlier this week to drivers going more than 20 km/h above the limit on James Snow south of Derry.


Halton regional council had previously set the 50 km/h limit on James Snow from Derry south to Britannia because that stretch of road was under construction, according to a Regional staff report. From Derry north to Main Street, the limit is 70 km/h, and from Main north to Steeles Avenue it was 80 km/h.


In December, council approved staff's recommendation to make the limit a uniform 70 km/h on James Snow from Britannia to Steeles.


Milton's other regional councillor Colin Best, a member of the Halton Regional Police Services Board, said he couldn't comment on police enforcement activities, but he said running a blitz on James Snow is "within their (the service's) prerogative."


"And people still have to obey the law of what the signs are," said Best.


Asked if council should have passed the bylaw changing the speed limit before signs were ready to be installed, Best responded: "That's what I've got to find out."


According to Tim Dennis, Halton's director of transportation services, the works department started making arrangements to change the signs on James Snow following council's approval of the new speed limit December 16.


"The completion of maintenance activities, other than emergency works, is impacted by our holiday closures, and the changeout of the signs is scheduled to be completed in the next few days," Dennis said today.

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Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Its really a big grey area now. The speed limits can change but drivers should be still obeying the posted speed limits. The by law was changed in December but you still have to drive to posted speed limits.

Whether or not the tickets will be thrown out depends on a judge and the validity of drivers assurances they knew of the regional council decision in December, which until now not many people knew, and they were driving that speed because of that reason.

Again no lawyer here but its definatley going to be interesting.

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

The reason the speed limit was 50kms is because the road wasnt paved and was still considered a construction zone because of the work done at the LSL intersection. It didnt really matter if there were any houses facing the street or anything else for that matter. They reduce the speed limits in construction zones.

They made arrangements to change the limit and that was passed in December. Given the time of the year and the holidays it took an extra long amount of time to change the signs.

As far as I know is the highway traffic act applies to posted speed limits.

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Thanks Tim for the explanation. Im noticing more articles going up on the website before it hits the print edition. Very nice.

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Good story Tim. It is nice to get the info without a spin to defend the Region or police inaction/action.
P.S. If you want to save it from the editor, place it closer to the top.

I think Zeeshan also got it right, course he works for us too.

[quote="Zeeshan Hamid"]Actually the speed limit was increased to 70km/hr back in December. I watched the webcast and confirmed with the staff that the speed limit was in fact increased. [u]The Region was just too slow to replace the sign. [/u]
I have a great deal of respect for cops who put their lives in line so I don't have to, but handing out tickets on JSP when they knew the limit was changed was just lame and actually decreases respect people have for the police department. [u]It was cheap to hand out tickets knowing full well that the signs were going to be changed any day. [/u]
[/quote]

Oops! But you get the idea.

Dave,

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as part of the Crown's case, are they not obligated to provide a copy of the bylaw to show that an offence has actually been committed?

Normally, this would be easy to do but in the case of the recent changes on JSP, I suspect it would be a bit more difficult as the Crown would need to provide evidence of the original bylaw (showing a 50 limit), the new bylaw passed in December (showing a 70 limit) and something to show that the bylaw had not yet gone into effect (i.e. maintenance records or photographs of the scene showing that the signs had yet not been changed despite the bylaw being in effect for several weeks).

It’s obviously a bit of a stretch since the officer would simply testify that the posted limit was still 50, but since the bylaw being approved was widely advertised through the televised council session, our local newspapers and several different Web-sites, one could argue that the majority of people would believe that the new limit was in effect regardless of the old signs still being up.

It’s a toss-up as to whether this would be enough to get the case thrown out, but I suspect that it’d be enough to at least get the charge reduced…?

She should fight the ticket. I did last year. I was nabbed going 78 as well. That was when the stretch just opened and I thought it was 70 like the north side (of derry) and I was wrong.

I went to court and had the first appearance meeting with the prosecutor and she dropped it to 65 over, no points and a 53.00 fine.

I learned my lesson and would go 50 on the nose down that stretch. I found it rather odd that thompson road where houses front on (south of Derry) was a 60 zone yet this 2 lane road out in a less built up area was only 50.

eta- Just read this second page and see why it was 50 - makes sense.

It might, but if the signs weren't change and its posted 50km/hr,then your better off taking a plea, but you can try

You can all cite the laws and subsections under the HTA, but this "blitz" is pure bullshit. I am very angry to learn that the police service knew about this change. And they know full well there is no danger doing 70k on that stretch of road.

But, I certainly would not complain about getting a ticket since it was (still) posted as 50 km/hr, but to do a (presumably) "safety" blitz under these circumstances where THERE IS NO APARRENT DANGER, really makes me angry.

No, Halton Police were not doing anything 'wrong' at the time, but in my mind, they were definitely not doing anything right either.

How about using those resources on 4th line between Clark & LSL? Where there is real danger. Surely they've identified speeding to be an issue there too.

I am fuming reading all these posts. And to those that got tickets, TAKE THEM TO COURT. The Halton Police want to waste our time, we should do like-wise!!

Oh, wait a sec, we'd still be screwed since we'd have to pay them for that too.