I am 100 per cent for safety on our roads, however I wish rather than doing a speed review (RFP, consultants report and report to Council all titled “speed limit review” ) the City would have done a safety review.
I imagine most residents will agree with the reduction from 50 to 40 km/h in their local neighborhood roads. But the proposal is for 40 km/h on both local and collector roads – collector roads are the roads we drive on when we exit our local neighborhood and are typically bus routes.
And I wonder how we will all react when the 12 “school zones” are increased to 53 “playground zones” and we all have to drive only 30 km/h along these 53 locations from “8 am to 8 pm, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year”. For example almost all of Cunningham Drive, Fairview Boulevard, two long sections of Deer Ridge Drive and a long section of Hogan Road become 30 km/h playground zones, just to name a few.
There are many factors that impact road safety, such as the growing impact of distracted driving, impaired drivers, slippery winter conditions, road design and conditions, etc. I wish the City had done a more comprehensive safety review rather than just a speed reduction review.
Mike Killick, St. Albert
