Vauxhall council examining traffic bylaw

Nikki Jamieson
Vauxhall Advance
njamieson@tabertimes.com

Vauxhall town council is laying out the groundwork for new traffic rules.

The new proposed traffic bylaw – number 897-15 – will be replacing the current traffic bylaw 875-13. It received it’s first reading, as amended, during the Nov. 16 Vauxhall town council meeting.

Council is looking for public input into the new changes.

“Discussion is good,” said Margaret Plumtree, Vauxhall mayor. “We can’t know everything, right, so opening it up to the public, they go ‘Hey, that’s a dumb idea,’ or ‘Hey, that’s great, but tweak this’. We can’t know it all.”

The old bylaw was enacted in 2013. Since then, some of the sections have become irrelevant, since the Alberta Traffic Safety Act changed nearly a year ago.

In addition to updating the various sections already in the current bylaw, the proposed bylaw adds a section pertaining to off-highway vehicles – such as ATVs and forklifts – as well as sidewalk snow removal in regards to those vehicles, and ensuring that those who do have adequate insurance and permits.

There was also an addition to the fines section, pertaining to ATVs. For instance, there is a $100 fine for going over 20 km/hour with an off-highway vehicle.

“I guess the question we have, is do we have a lot of problems with these kind of things? Cause that would tell us, if we need to up the rate of any of them (fines),” said Plumtree. “If these are rarities, then I imagine the price we have them set at is fine, but if you know, people are doing this a lot then maybe we need to check it, increasing it, the fines.”

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