Edmonton City Council is making moves to lower the default speed limit across the whole city, citing the safety of all while missing the point that problem roads need to be addressed. The design of the road has far more impact on the speed we drive compared to the impact of a speed limit sign. We should be fixing the problem roads and enforcing traffic laws instead of applying blanket approaches..Most people will drive to the design of the road, not the posted speed limit. In our mature neighbourhoods – where roads are narrower – more than 75 per cent of people drive under 40km/h according to a City of Edmonton study. In our new neighbourhoods, we design the roads in a fashion to encourage people to drive 40km/h. Residential roads have different widths and functions. Some are jammed with parking and some are not. Some have apartment buildings and some have only a few houses. Some are incorporated into the grid network and some have dangerous curves. Applying reduced speed limit to roads designed for higher speeds will not change behaviour. Yet, some of my fellow councillors want to drop it down as low as 30km/h. .The millions of dollars we will spend on changing the signs will simply formalize existing behaviour. Other jurisdictions which have reduced speed limits have found this formalization to be true. Driving behaviour is influenced more by the look and feel of the road rather than speed limit signs. Those same jurisdictions have realized that lowering speed limits on roads which are designed for higher speeds does not change behaviour. The issue arises on those roads which are designed poorly. .Council is aware of troublesome roads and we should be addressing those specific spots to reduce accidents. We have been told that there are individual roads which are dangerous, segments of streets that are problematic, and intersections which have higher accident rates. Just as our new neighbourhoods are designed for lower speed limits, those roads which are problematic can be re-designed. Changing residential speed limits is a substantial shock for a city and a costly approach should not be applied when nimble solutions exist. Those problem roads will continue to have the look and feel of a road which should be driven at a higher speed and they will continue to cause accidents after the speed limits are changed as humans are imperfect..The speed limit change will cost over $2.5 million dollars and yet, those problem roads will still be designed in a dangerous way. Not only will we have to pay for the speed limit change, but we will then have to pay more to redesign those problem roads. We could use the $2.5 million to fix the problem roads before applying a solution to the majority of roads which are not a problem. .Instead, we should increase enforcement for those driving faster than current limits. A blanket speed limit reduction on roads designed for higher limits will not reduce speeding as much as enforcement or redesign. My fear is that lower speed limits will give pedestrians a false sense of safety. Drivers will still be going speeds the road is designed for and it is a disservice to suggest to pedestrians that it will be any different. .While I am all for making our roads safer, the writing is on the wall that changes will occur. My hope is to convince my fellow councillors that we shouldn’t lose focus on what is important by concentrating on pet projects. We should focus on enforcing existing rules and fixing problem roads before trying multi-million-dollar blanket approaches. This is not how Edmontonians want to see their tax dollars spent. We have other priorities and I will continue to advocate for common sense..Jon Dziadyk is the Edmonton City Councillor for Ward 3
