The new screening process to identify residential streets that qualify for permanent traffic calming has gotten worse, again. In 2019, the speed screening process cut the list of problem streets in half from 140 to 70. Now it has raised the guidelines above those outlined by the Transportation Association of Canada, and one expert says that increases the probability of fatal crashes by 20 to 25 percent. The justification? Reduced budgets. Each ward gets a $75,000 per year budget for traffic calming (compared to millions for individual intersections). You can read more about it here.
Bike Ottawa wonders if the timing of the original move, just before the 2020-2024 Road Safety Action Plan, may have contributed to the poor results until now? Will this latest move contribute to even worse results, just a year after one of the most dangerous years on record for people outside cars?
