A Grey Highlands committee is requesting council consider helping establish a rural road safety program.
The Community Safety Committee received a correspondence on the program during a meeting on Monday from Good Roads, an organization dedicated to improving municipal roads and infrastructure in Ontario.
“Too many Ontarians are being seriously injured or killed on our roads,” says the correspondence. “In 2023, there were 616 people killed and 36,090 people injured. The number of fatalities is up nearly 20 per cent in the last 10 years.”
The correspondence submitted in October, 2024, says the organization has proposed leading a five-year $183 million program to quickly put in place solutions to address some of the province’s most dangerous roads.
The road safety program, which has been in discussions with the Ministry of Transportation to fund it, would include conducting road safety audits, install modern safety infrastructure which prevents serious injuries, and is designed to be cost effective while also providing municipalities with the means to address risks associated with their roadways.
The organization is requesting municipalities pass a motion indicating their support of the program and sending it to Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria.
The committee also received a correspondence from the Municipality of Dysart et al, who has already approved a motion to support the program.
Coun. Joel Loughead recommended this be brought to council to consider supporting the program.
“Banding together with other municipalities across the province, working with Good Roads to really tackle this in a concerted effort, lobby the provincial government for the funds and the planning,” says Loughead.