Not so fast: 30 km/h speed limit draws criticism
As city councillors prepare to debate a proposal next week to lower the speed limit on neighbourhood streets to 30 km/ h, one local politician is suggesting the city first reduce the residential speed to 40 km/ h.
Coun. Shane Keating said he plans to introduce an amendment to Coun. Druh Farrell’s motion to suggest the smaller speed reduction. “I’m always of the favour if you’re going to implement change, then implement it incrementally,” Keating said. “So rather than try to say we’re going from A to B in one direction without question, maybe we should be looking at stopping at 40, evaluating, seeing what benefits have come, what are the difficulties we’ve had with it.”
Keating also wants to see “vastly improved enforcement” accompany the lowered speed limit, and for there to be communication to residents about which types of streets will be affected by the change.
Jodi Morel with the local group Vision Zero, which has been advocating for 30 km/h residential speed limits, said the gap between someone being likely to survive being struck by a vehicle driving at 30 km/ h versus 40 km/ h “is massive.”
“Basically, when the data’s been covered, 30 km/h is the highest survivability, without having major, major injuries for the person that’s being struck,” she said.
Morel added that drivers can often travel between five and 10 kilometres per hour over the speed limit before they are penalized.
“If that’s the case, if we shoot for 40, we’re really actually looking at a possibility of 50 before there’s any kind of tickets or repercussions,” she said.
Rick Lang, manager of operations for Alberta Motor Association driver education, said the organization teaches students to drive at a speed appropriate for conditions and circumstances.
“The vast majority of residential areas … is still posted at 50 km/ h,” he said. “But I always ask students, is it safe to do 50 km/ h? And when they take a look at all of the risk factors there, narrow streets, snow in the winter time, ice … a lot of times they ’ll come out with a safer speed is probably closer to 30 than 50.”
Calgary resident Leah Murray said she would support the proposed 30 km/h speed limit in her community. In fact, residents in Garrison Green have been lobbying the city to introduce that limit at the entrance to the neighbourhood because of a series of playgrounds.
“Like a lot of the homes in these areas, in the inner city, the homes are close together and the streets are quite tight and a lot of people park on the street, so 50 km/h when there’s kids playing and a lot of cars parked — it makes for a risky environment,” she said.
But for longtime Rosedale resident Jackie Nodwell, the 30 km/h limit seems extreme. The speed limit on Crescent Road N.W. was reduced to 30 km/h about three years ago, and Nodwell said the majority of drivers don’t obey the signs. She added that 40 km/h in residential areas “seems quite reasonable” and is often the speed that drivers will keep to if in a neighbourhood where the roads are narrow or there are many parked cars.
“I think there will be an awful lot of very frustrated drivers in this city if they lower it to 30,” she said.
The debate that council is preparing to have is not a new one for Calgary, or for other municipalities in the province where lowered residential speed limits are already in place.
The Town of Cochrane implemented speed reductions in four residential areas to 30 km/h last month. On residential streets in Banff and Okotoks, the speed limit is 40 km/ h.
In Airdrie, a 30 km/ h speed limit on neighbourhood streets has been in place since the 1980s.
Calgary council will debate the proposal, which has support from the mayor and six councillors, on Monday.
I think there will be an awful lot of very frustrated drivers in this city if they lower it to 30.