Yes to helmets for cyclists but no to a ban on skateboards and skates on Main Street. The City of Moose Jaw is moving forward with changes to their Traffic Bylaw after launching an online survey to gage public acceptance.

You may remember the story we brought you earlier this year about the report outlining several concerns raised by the Transportation Services Advisory Committee. The story saw an immediate response from the community, prompting the survey according to Communications Officer Craig Hemingway.

"Over 1800 responses came through." explained Hemingway who was pleased with the response.

While there were several aspects of the bylaw that were to see changes, the making helmets mandatory and banning skateboards and skates on Main Street saw the most attention. 58% of respondents did not support the ban on Main Street and so council took it out of the bylaw changes.

"Some felt that it was an attack on young people and another theme (in comments) was why would you go out of your way to prevent a form of transportation that is environmentally friendly."

 However, 77% supported the enforcement of helmets for cyclists under 18 years old and it will go ahead. During the meeting on Monday, there was some discussion about dropping that age to 14 or 16 years old but in the end, the motion stayed the way it was.

A bylaw must now be drafted before the rules become legal and there was no timeframe for when the laws will come into play. Councillors did raise concerns about issuing a helmet ticket to a five year old and Hemingway has said that meetings with the Moose Jaw Police Service are needed to go over how the law will be enforced.