‘Element of danger’: Manitoba school division calls for more safe transportation options

The superintendent of a school division south of Winnipeg says his board intends to be a ‘loud and thunderous’ voice in support of safe transportation options for its students.

Seine River School Division’s Reg Klassen told Global Winnipeg that some students who live within 1.6 km of their schools are stuck walking along busy highways — with no sidewalks — as they don’t qualify for bus transportation.

Most of the kids in question, Klassen said, live in new residential developments outside of established towns, and there’s no alternate, safe way for them to walk or bike to school.

“Suddenly, we’re realizing that in many of the communities that Seine River is in, we have suburban sprawl — these communities are growing, and what has been missed is proper sidewalks in those communities,” Klassen said.

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“That’s not to say children can’t walk in a different place — i.e. an open field — but that’s impractical, given there’s going to be snow coming soon. Are we going to ask them to trudge through the snow? Well, no, but along major routes, without a sidewalk… then an element of danger and concern for those students comes to bear.”

Klassen said the division is currently working with the municipalities and towns in their catchment area, as well as the province and concerned parents to come up with a solution to the urgent issue.

A long-term solution, he said, will be to lobby developers to think about safe foot traffic to and from towns — especially with significant expansion planned for a number of communities in the area.

“In those developments, many of those homes have more than one vehicle, so we’re very used to driving — and suddenly when there’s no transportation available… suddenly it creates a problem,” Klassen said.

“Moving forward, one of the things our board has discussed is when there’s a new development, we will be a loud and thunderous voice for incorporating proper bicycle and foot traffic paths that take people safely to and from their community to the centre of town… or to a school, for that matter.”

Global News has reached out to Minister of Education and the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure for a comment.

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