Mind your meter this winter, NOTL: the speed limit is coming down by 10 kilometres an hour in the town’s urban areas, starting with St. Davids and Queenston this month.
The speed limit will drop to 40 km/h from 50 km/h on all urban local roads, save for in Chautauqua, where the limit will drop to 30 km/h.
The change will roll out over the next three months, the town announced this month. In January, the new limit will take effect in St. Davids and Queenston. Old Town will follow in February, with Glendale and Virgil in March.
“Lower speeds give drivers more time to react and significantly reduce the severity of collisions,” said Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa in a press release. “This change is about protecting our road users and creating safer, more livable neighbourhoods in our community.”
“NEW” tabs on the signs will highlight the reduced speed limit for the first 90 days after they take effect and the town, co-ordinating with the Niagara Regional Police, will begin enforcing the new limit.
The program aligns with the town’s commitment to Vision Zero, a road safety strategy first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s that aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries.
Last year, the town allocated $30,000 to implement these changes, which is coming from the town’s Vision Zero funds provided by Niagara Reigon. There will be no extra cost to taxpayers to change the speed limits.
The town noted that urban roads are “shared by pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, transit vehicles, delivery traffic, and other road users.”
“Lower speeds help reduce the severity of collisions and create safer conditions for everyone who uses these roads.”
Sam Jackson, a Niagara Falls resident who came out to Queenston to walk his dog, said similar debates have been happening where he lives, particularly regarding the speed cameras which the province banned late last year.
He sees this change as arbitrary and believes there should be justification for it.
“Let’s not just lower the speed for the sake of lowering the speed with the assumption that ‘Well, it might work and if it saves one life on the back end, then it’s totally worth it,'” he said. “That’s just a cynical argument they like to use.”
Chief administrative officer Nick Ruller cited research in the announcement that says a 10 per cent reduction in speed can reduce fatal collisions by as much as 40 per cent.
The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety cites this same research finding as coming from 2009 report from the Institute of Transport Economics from Norway.
“This initiative aligns NOTL with neighbouring municipalities that have already implemented similar speed reductions and supports consistent driver expectations across jurisdictions,” Ruller said.
