Speed signage posted near Hillcrest School in Owen Sound. (photo by Nathan Shubert)
Owen Sound is moving towards dropping the speed limit in school zones to 30 kilometres an hour next year.
City council approved an operations committee recommendation at its meeting on Monday to bring forward a by-law to lower the speed limit in school zones from 40 km/h to 30 km/h starting in 2022.
A formal by-law still needs to be passed by city council to make the school zone speed reductions in Owen Sound official.
Owen Sound’s operations committee conducted a review of speed limits in the community after residents brought up the issue of speeding on city streets on several occasions. The committee reviewed a report on speed limits on residential roads at its April 13 meeting.
The report by Owen Sound’s Director of Public Works and Engineering Dennis Kefalas says it became apparent in discussions with the Owen Sound Police Service “speed is not a chronic” issue in Owen Sound.
However, Kefalas’ report explains city police did identify several problem areas for speeding.
Police identified East Bayshore Road, 15th Street B East, 8th Street East from 16th to 28th Avenues, 6th Avenue West from 4th Avenue West to Blacks Park, Eddie Sargent Parkway and several parts of 4th Avenue West.
Kefalas’ report notes several root causes for speeding taking place on these problem roads: they are long stretches with very little stop control, drivers consider them to be ‘shortcuts’, and they are challenging in terms of skills and “drivers use the sharp corners to mimic what they see in the movies.”
The resolution adopted by council Monday directs staff to work with Owen Sound Police to find ways to help address and deter speeding along problematic roads.
On the recommendation to lower school zone speed limits, Kefalas’ report cited a 2014 Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering study where speed limits were reduced from 50 km/h to 30 km/h in school zones. The researchers found drivers did reduce their speed from an average of 46 km/h to 34 km/h when limits were lowered, and the amount of collisions involving children were cut down.
“Reducing speed limits in school zones will create a safer environment for younger students,” Kefalas’ report says.
Because of its location, East Ridge Community School is one that will require additional consultation with police and Grey County before finalizing a decision to make changes. The process to begin changes at other school zones in the city will begin upon formal approval by council.
Council also endorsed a plan Monday to run a test pilot of traffic calming devices along 6th Avenue West, which will include the installation of speed humps and flexible posts displaying the limit in the middle of the road.
Kefalas notes 6th Avenue West was selected for the test pilot as residents in that area have made several presentations to the operations committee regarding concerns about speeding occurring on the street.
Coun. Marion Koepke asked if stop signs would be considered along 6th Avenue West?
Kefalas says it’s something that will be considered, and notes the main issue is speeding and trying to keep vehicles from using the road as a shortcut.
“We’re not going to say we’re not going to put stop signs, but we’re going to test these two devices first,” Kefalas explains.
Kefalas’ report notes one action that was being considered was the possibility of reducing the limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h on all residential and local roads in Owen Sound, but this was not recommended by the operations committee.
The Highway Traffic Act stipulated for many years the minimum speed on roads and highways in Ontario was 50 km/h, but changes made in 2017 under the Safer School Zones Act allow municipalities to designate areas where limits can be lower.
“Because of these changes, several municipalities in the province have lowered speed limits in school zones and on local roads within specific neighbourhoods,” Kefalas’ report says.
He explains Canadian municipalities also started to explore the concept of Vision Zero in the late 1990s — an idea that originated in Sweden that any loss of life is not an acceptable price to pay for mobility.
Kefalas says major communities in Canada started looking at this concept because they had issues with fatalities involving motorists and pedestrians, which is not an issue in Owen Sound.
Staff did not recommend a Vision Zero policy in Owen Sound or suggest further lowering residential speed limits because of the low numbers, but Kefalas’ report notes the city will continue to work with police and monitor annual data to see if significant changes occur that may warrant consideration in future.
Kefalas report notes data kept by the Owen Sound Police Service shows in the past three years there have been about 15 incidents annually involving pedestrians and vehicles — 45 per cent were the fault of pedestrians and where vehicle speed was not a contributing factor.
There have been no fatalities related to accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians or cyclists in Owen Sound during that period.
“It is very rare for such incidents to happen in Owen Sound,” Kefalas explains.
Deputy Mayor Brian O’Leary expressed some disappointment with the report on speed limits, saying it wasn’t “thorough enough” in thinking about dropping the city’s speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h.
“Do we have to have a chronic problem before we make a decision to move it from 50 km/h to 40 km/h?” O’Leary wonders.