Would Stratford be safer for pedestrians with a lower citywide speed limit?
That’s the question city staff are looking to answer following a request by the Infrastructure, Transportation and Safety SubCommittee at their meeting Wednesday to look at what would be required and if it would be worth it to lower the speed limit on arterial roads to 40 kilometers from 50 kilometers.
The request followed a report by staff on speeding concerns on Douro Street, between Waterloo Street to Romeo Street, that was prompted by residents raising concerns in October about safety.
Subcommittee chair Councilor Kathy Vassilakos says studies have revealed that lowering the speed limit increases safety.
“If a pedestrian is hit at 50 kilometers an hour it’s almost always fatal, at 40 kilometers an hour it’s halved and then at 30 kilometers an hour, it’s only one in ten people that it’s fatal.”
Staff will come back to the subcommittee with a report in the near future before it goes to the committee level and then onto city council.
