Questions raised on feedback for traffic safety plan

City council's response to a proposal to lower the speed limit in Cathedral and adopt a new pedestrian safety strategy was largely positive Wednesday, but questions of whether more public feedback is needed lingered.

The report came before executive committee and seeks to establish the city's first Community Safety Zone in the Cathedral neighbourhood and lower the speed limit inside its borders to 30 km/h from 50 km/h.

Speed limit reductions in other neighbourhoods is also being considered, but in light of two fatalities on 13th Avenue last year, city staff recommend starting in Cathedral.

Delegate Nicole Strandlund enthusiastically endorsed the idea of lowering the speed limit in her neighbourhood.

“It bothers me to no end that we are unable to enjoy a morning bike ride to school, or walk with my dog to the grocery store, because we are at risk of being hit by vehicles,” she said. “Reducing the speed limit is an easy first step.”

Rolled into the recommendation was also a report prepared by private consultants CIMA Canada Inc., outlining a Vision Zero Framework for the City of Regina to consider adopting.

City councillors spent nearly two hours grilling CIMA delegates, members of the Regina Police Service and administration on the data in the report.

The framework presented Wednesday was a high-level suggestion, and simply seeks endorsement from city council to continue work on, said deputy city manager of city operations Kurtis Doney.

It includes significant analysis of Regina's traffic collision data and 114 recommended changes the city and other partner agencies could implement to improve walking and cycling safety citywide.

Discussions were ongoing as of deadline, but all city council members who'd spoken so far Wednesday were in favour of the idea.

Coun. Bob Hawkins (Ward 2) was the only to express a concern, arguing more robust public engagement should be done before city council hops on board with something that impacts all residents.

He said his reluctance comes only from the concern “people might push back and say, `well this is a stealth attempt to achieve a broader effect.' ”

CIMA conducted engagement with stakeholders, including Regina police, SGI and the Cathedral Village Community Association.

Four public engagement sessions and a Beheard Regina campaign forum were also held in 2023, with some public turnout. Results from those weren't available Wednesday.

“I'd rather people understand in advance what are the implications of this,” Hawkins said.

Coun. Andrew Stevens, who represents Ward 3, including Cathedral, said he received “dozens” of communications asking for more pedestrian protections after a second person died in a vehicle-pedestrian collision this December.

“Residents actually wanted these initiatives to go all the way to Lewvan,” he said. “There was some frustration there wasn't enough in the infrastructure investments.”

Regina has reported 55 fatal pedestrian-vehicle collisions since 2015. About 15 per cent of all fatal- or injury-causing collisions in the city between 2015 and 2019 involved either pedestrians or cyclists, according to the data sample examined by CIMA.

All measures in the framework, if endorsed, would go through a committee phase before any decisions on implementation are made, Doney said.

If approved, the recommendation goes for final approval from city council on April 10.