Meaford is looking into developing a speed management policy for its urban roads.
Council approved a motion from Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney to have staff draft a comprehensive policy for reducing speed by implementing various traffic calming measures and enforcement during a meeting on Oct. 7.
The motion from Keaveney says as excess speed on urban roads increases the risk of traffic-related injuries and fatalities, the policy would include the launch of a public education campaign about the dangers of speeding, installing roundabouts, speed humps, and pedestrian islands, work with local law enforcement and look into installing speed cameras, as well as implement location-specific speed reductions along residential roads, school zones, and beaches.
Mayor Ross Kentner says this comes after a resident asked council for a community safety zone a couple of weeks ago.
“We have had requests for the same thing that we have not acted on and I think that is one of the reasons why the deputy mayor is bringing forward this motion now to see if we can, instead of an ad hoc, piece-by-piece approach, can we find an overarching thing, but may be rather than taking six months to do this, we should give it a little more priority,” says Kentner.
Coun. Harley Greenfield adds he would also like the policy to address other forms of transportation.
“There are a couple of vehicles that are now both on our sidewalks and our roads that are growing in number and that is battery powered scooters and also there is starting to get to be all kinds of mini cars,” says Greenfield. “I really hope that as this is put into place, that may be there could be a special few pages dedicated to those vehicles.”
Staff will be consulting with transportation experts and relevant provincial legislation before coming back to council within the next six months with a recommendation for a speed management on urban road policy.