TORONTO – City crews will begin switching residential speed limit signs of 40 km/hr to 30 km/hr in Ward 22 beginning on Monday.
The change was approved earlier this summer when members of the Toronto and East York Community Council unanimously voted to reduce the speed limit on 387 kilometres of local roads.
The speed reduction will take place in select neighbourhoods in downtown Toronto and East York at a cost of $1.1 million.
A report by city staff found that reducing the speed limit would improve safety, but warned that drivers could ignore it.
It is estimated about 4,450 signs would be changed, 310 traffic signals adjusted and would take two to three years to complete the work.
Councillor Josh Matlow championed the idea after 6-year-old Georgia Walsh was struck and killed by a van in Leaside last summer.
However, the speed limit changes will not take effect in Leaside as the jurisdiction is covered by the North York community council which did not accept the report by the city’s medical officer of health.
Don Valley West councillor Jon Burnside, who represents Ward 26 where Walsh was killed, said speed had nothing to do with her tragic death.
“What it really comes down to is bad driver behaviour,” Burnside said. “Absolutely speeding is a part of that but it’s not entirely that and in the case of Georgia Walsh, speed had nothing to do with it. It was actually a red light.”
Burnside said there has been some push back regarding the reduction in the speed limit.
“There’s the feeling that 30 km/hr is a little bit too slow and that will cause people to take other actions to speed up their commute – which quite frankly could be rolling through stop signs,” he said.
With files from Mark McAllister
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