After conducting a public survey, Grey Highlands council has decided not to lower the speed limit in its hamlets and villages.
Following several deputations from concerned citizens, the municipality of Grey Highlands launched a public survey to gather further feedback on the rate of speed in its hamlets.
The survey was conducted from Sept. 21 to Oct. 21 and posed the question of whether the speed limit of 50 km/hr should be lowered to 40 km/hr in all hamlets and villages.
The survey produced 339 responses, with 57 per cent saying they did not want the speed limit reduced, and 43 per cent wanting the speed reduced.
Of the survey respondents, 13 per cent do not live in the municipality and 31 per cent live in the municipality but outside of a hamlet or village.
“Sixty per cent of all respondents said there should be more enforcement,” said Grey Highlands councillor Cathy Little during a council meeting held last week.
Numerous comments received through the survey stated that reducing the speed limit was unlikely to have any effect on the area's speeding issues, as those who speed now generally already ignore the posted speed limit.
“I think there are some other options that we can look at. Reducing the speed limit might be an easy thing to do and satisfy some people but, to be effective and not inconvenience a lot of other people, I think there are some other options that we could be considering,” Little continued.
Along with increased enforcement, survey responses also suggested the need for more or better signage, the installation of speed bumps in problem areas, installation of sidewalks in busy pedestrian areas, and better control of illegal and dangerous parking.
Since the launch of the municipality’s survey in late-September, Grey County has made changes to the speed limit on a few of the roads it controls, including:
- Grey Road 4 Grey Highlands: Change existing 60 km/h speed limit to 50 km/h through the Hamlet of Ceylon
- Grey Road 13 Grey Highlands: Reduction of the existing speed posting of 50 km/h to 40 km/h through Eugenia
- Grey Road 13 in Kimberly is going to receive select traffic calming measures
Following discussion around the public survey, Grey Highlands councillors did not support reducing the speed limit in Eugenia.
Deputy Mayor Aakash Desai presented a motion that would direct staff to investigate the possibility of acquiring photo radar speed enforcement units in the 2021 budget for council consideration.
“These are the units that have been used to offer quite a great level of success in municipalities such as the city of Toronto and Brampton. If you're speeding, if you're going above a certain level on a road, the owner to whom the vehicle is registered, receives a ticket with date, time and place of the infraction,” he said. “We are talking about making our streets safer, and we've heard from a number of people that what we need is greater enforcement, not greater regulation.”
Councillor Little also suggested the municipality should take a closer look at its community safety zones - where they are located and how they may be leveraged to provide safer streets for pedestrians.
Despite requests for increased enforcement from residents through the public survey, all motions were opposed and defeated by the council. The information collected through the public survey was received for information.
