Area motorists are being urged to slow down on our roads.
Plans are underway to reduce speed from 40 to 30 kilometres an hour on local roads and public lanes in Etobicoke to help save lives, according to a City of Toronto Report For Action.
Work is being conducted in Etobicoke Lakeshore (Ward 3) and Etobicoke North (Ward 1) to reduce the speed limits to 30 kilometres an hour on dozens of roadways in the ward.
“The intention is that every local roadway and laneway in the City will ultimately be included in one such zone in order to have the speed limit set at 30 km/h,” according to city officials.
PLAN to drop from 40
to 30 Kilometers per hour speed limits on our local roads.
The move is part of a City Vision Zero Road Safety Plan that was approved by Etobicoke Community Council last May. It was created by the City’s Project Design and Management arm of Transportation Services.
The plan sets speed limit reductions on local roads and lanes to prevent serious injuries and fatalities.
“Setting lower speed limits is a key tool for reducing operating speeds on Toronto’s roadways,” according to a report by city staff. “The Vision Zero Speed Management Strategy includes a program for reducing speed limits on local roads.”
The report said it would cost about $300,00 to install hundreds of speed limit signs and funding is available in Transportation Services’ 2022 Capital Budget.
The speed limit reductions are expected to be completed by the end of 2023, subject to available staffing resources within the Transportation Services Signs and Pavement Markings Unit, according to council.
Council designated most local roads in Ward 1 and Ward 3 as having a speed limit of 30 km/h, with the exception of specified areas near bridges or highways.
The report said there will be a ‘significant amount of new signage’ to be installed across the city with two or three wards being completed yearly.
TRAFFIC officer at work on busy road. Courtesy photo.
“The reductions will be rolled out on a systematic, ward-by-ward basis using a data driven approach with priority going to wards with a higher rate of vulnerable road user injury collisions on local roads,” according to officials.
“The goal of the Speed Management Strategy is to mitigate the risk of injuries and fatalities on Toronto’s roads by reducing the speed of vehicles,” according to City staff. “There is evidence that the reductions have had a positive impact on reductions in operating speeds of vehicles.”
Work is also being done to slow down traffic flow with the design of roadways, automated and manual speed enforcement, proactive deployment of Watch Your Speed Sign and revised speed limit setting practices.