Drivers along busy Van Horne Avenue in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce sector may soon have to slow down.
Snowdon opposition city councillor Sonny Moroz is set to table a motion that would see the speed reduced from 50 km/h to 40 km/h.
The motion to be tabled Wednesday looks to bring consistency along the avenue.
“The acceleration and deceleration on Van Horne can lead to people trying to make up time because they went through a school zone or they feel like they should’ve been going at a higher speed, ” Moroz said.
Moroz says speed on the main artery that travels through Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead and Outremont should not vary.
The speed for the majority of the street is set at 40 km/h but not in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
Reducing the speed by 10 kilometres an hour will greatly improve the safety of pedestrians, Moroz said.
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He points to a study from Quebec’s public health institute (INSPQ) that showed the risk of death from a collision involving a pedestrian and a vehicle increases dramatically when driving at speeds upwards of 50 km/h.
The risk of fatality jumps to 75 per cent at 50km/h, up from 10 per cent at 30 km/h.
“People of all ages have been saying this is an issue, especially around Côte-des-Neiges,” Moroz said.
There has been a growing push across the city to reduce the speed limit on major thoroughfares to 40 km/h and residential streets to 30 km/h.
Moroz says this call for safety is nothing new, pointing to a 2018 promise from former borough mayor Sue Montgomery.
Van Horne was one of many streets set to have speed reduced but never did. Moroz believes the pandemic may have pushed the issue to the back burner.
“By no means am I blaming the administration. We have had the pandemic for three years and there is a lot of things that have sat on the shelf,” Moroz said.
Jason Savard, spokesperson for the Association of Pedestrians and Cyclists of NDG, is calling for stricter measures to be put in place to force drivers to slow down.
“It’s half the measure; this needs enforcement. Changing the speed will not change habits.”
Savard says he would like to see the implementation of traffic-calming measures such as planters and bike paths to narrow the road.
Speed monitoring radars and cameras could also be effective in penalizing drivers, he says.
“Speed cameras are popular right now and Montreal has barely any. This would definitely change driving behaviour if they got fined for driving just above the speed limit,” Savard said.
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