The Town of Hawkesbury now has official status as a community safety zone.

Last month council approved Bylaw 62-2024 to designate and regulate community safety zones within the municipality.

The new bylaw replaces two past bylaws that dealt with designating certain highway intersections and related entry points to the town as community safety zones. The new bylaw notes that most of the town is designated as a community safety zone because it includes dense retail and commercial building areas with street parking along with residential areas that feature a large amount of pedestrian traffic that includes children and seniors, along with specific neighbourhoods that include seniors retirement homes and the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital.

The new bylaw is the result of a recent administration report dealing with the potential impact on traffic safety involving children, with special attention given to school zone areas that might see a large number of students walking to and from school now because of new provincial guidelines concerning student eligibility for school bus transport.

The new community safety zone policy will mean more reduced speed limit zones on many municipal streets, including Main Street. The town may also increase the financial penalty for speeding through a designated community safety zone area. Town staff will set up warning signs at the six main entrances into Hawkesbury, telling motorists that the entire town is now a community safety zone and advising they observe the new posted speed limits.

The new bylaw also allows for possible use of traffic cameras at six specific high-traffic entry and exit points for Hawkesbury. Whether or not the municipality will use traffic cameras will depend on a future detailed report to council on the benefits, problems, and costs of automated cameras for use in traffic control.

For now the municipality will focus on posting signage to warn motorists about designated community safety zones.