It’s been about a month since election signs disappeared from Waterloo Region – but in some neighbourhoods, new signs have sprung up to take their place.

Bearing a silhouette of a face and the message ‘Slow down – Kids at play,’ the signs first popped up in Toronto and have more recently spread to Kitchener and Waterloo.

“When we heard about these signs that were being created … we really thought that would be a great fit for our neighbourhood,” says Jill Klepacki, who ordered 75 signs on behalf of the Westmount Neighbourhood Association.

Klepacki says she’s been worried about the volume and speed of traffic in Westmount’s residential areas for years, and hopes drivers pay attention to the signs.

“It was really important to us to offer a reminder to people travelling on our streets to slow down and drive with care,” she says.

Even if the message is spreading, it may not be getting through to all drivers.

Klepacki says she still sees motorists speeding past her home.

So does Frank Millerd, who lives on nearby Avondale Avenue,.

“They’re not really visiting or living in the neighbourhood, but simply using the neighbourhood as a way to get to their house or to shopping in downtown Kitchener,” he says.

Signs have also been installed east of Westmount, in the Uptown West neighbourhood.

Residents there say they’ve seen an increase in people driving down their residential streets since Caroline Street became closed for light rail transit-related construction.

“We have had huge amounts of traffic,” says Joanne Beauvais.

“We know cars are going to cut through the neighbourhood, but I just would like them to show some respect that people live here.”

In the case of Caroline, drivers aren’t supposed to use residential streets as detours.

“They should be using Willis Way and, generally, King Street – and in some cases, Union Street,” says Thomas Schmidt, the region’s transportation commissioner.

Caroline Street is expected to reopen for much of the winter once weather conditions make further construction work impractical or impossible – likely around mid-December.

Across Canada, about 10,000 of the ‘Slow down – Kids at play’ signs have been printed.