Calgary set to study lowering speed limits
Posted Apr 18, 2016 7:44 am.
Last Updated Apr 18, 2016 8:12 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
How slow is too slow and how safe can roads actually be for pedestrians?
After a committee meeting this Wednesday, the city is expected to launch an eight-month program to see if lowering residential speed limits to 40 km/h or even 30 km/h could make Calgary streets safer.
It’s part of the Pedestrian Strategy’s final report.
According to the report, a person hit at 50 km/h has a 50 per cent chance of being hurt and a 21 per cent chance of being killed.
The chances of severe injury and death go down to 30 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, when struck at 40 km/h, and the risk of injury falls to 18 per cent and the chance of being killed is just six per cent at 30 km/h.
The report notes even though a lot of roads would be affected, reducing residential speed limits city-wide has little impact on travel time.
Transportation Committee Chair Shane Keating says they’ve asked people what they think about the plan.
“I would say the vast majority are not in favour of reducing the speed limit without enforcement and they’re also not in favour of reducing it on major roadways, it has to be strictly residential-based,” he said. “It has been proven that if you change the speed limit without enforcement you’ll get a three to five per cent drop in speeders but if you change the speed limit with enforcement, it goes as high as 25 per cent.”
Lowering residential speed limits is something we’ve already seen in other nearby communities, including Okotoks, Banff, and Airdrie; which has had 30 km/h residential roads for 30 years.
Several approaches have been suggested to implementing new vehicle speeds, including working with the province to amend Alberta’s Traffic Safety Act, creating a new city bylaw, posting reduced speed limit signs on all affected roads, and having a pilot speed reduction in one or more communities.
Keating says it will be some time before any changes are implemented; pointing out it still has to pass through committee and council.
“I don’t think, in my view, very much will happen until we get a Calgary Police Service report back talking about enforcement in residential areas,” he said, adding that wouldn’t be available until fall.
The findings of the study will be presented in November.
