Why 30 km/hr Should be the New Residential Speed Limit

From May 1 to October 31, 2010 6 Edmonton neighbourhoods will have their residential speed limit reduced from 50 km/hr to 40 km/hr to pilot the possibility of introducing a new city wide residential speed limit. Many Canadian cities have either chosen or are in the midst of piloting this 40 km/hr speed limit to increase the safety of pedestrians in residential areas.
It has been shown in many studies that a pedestrian hit at 50 km/hr has a 90-100% probability of death. Hit at 40 km/hr there is a 30% probability of death; hit at 30 km/hr there is a 5% probability of death. If you really doubt whether speed impacts pedestrian safety, do this simple experiment yourself: find a brick wall and walk into it at a quick pace. Next, run as fast as you can into the brick wall and compare how much pain you feel in the two circumstances. From this research it has been determined that 30 km/hr is the safest speed for pedestrian environments. When cities choose a 40 km/hr residential speed limit, they are choosing to compromise with drivers, allowing pedestrians a 30% probability of death in order for drivers not to be slowed down too much as they pass through residential areas. Compromise is the foundation of our democratic society so I am willing to accept 40 km/hr as the new residential speed limit for my community.
The problem arises however, in how EPS will enforce this 40 km/hr speed limit. If drivers when seeing the “Maximum 40 km/hr” sign actually drove up to a maximum of 40 km/hr then our communities would become safer places for pedestrians. The reality is however, that the Edmonton Police Service allows a tolerance level of 11 km/hr over the speed limit before they begin ticketing drivers. Everyone knows this – as Councilor Don Iveson has pointed out it is Edmonton’s worst kept secret.
Transport Canada prepared a report on speeding in 2007 discovering that 7 in 10 Canadians admit to speeding despite considering speeding dangerous and leading to increased risk of collision, injury or death. The report goes on to say that drivers surveyed admitted to an average speed that was 7 kilometres over the speed limit on residential streets. “It’s fair to assume” the report states that “the real numbers are considerably higher...because most drivers underestimate the extent of their speeding and consider it to be benign”. This report reflects the fact that drivers look at the posted speed limit and choose to do a little or a lot over that limit because they know that they can get away with it. So introducing a new 40 km/hr speed limit means that 7 out of 10 of us will really drive 47 km/hr and some of us will go 51 km/hr or more before worrying about getting ticketed. According to research a pedestrian risks a 70% probability of death if hit at this speed. Will reducing the residential speed limit from 50 km/hr to 40 km/hr result in safer communities? I think not.
The City of Edmonton’s Office of Traffic Safety and the Transportation Department who should be concerned for the safety of pedestrians state that they are suggesting a 40km/hr limit because of concern over “push back” from drivers if they go too low. According to a 2008 Safe Kids Canada Harris/Decima survey 74% of drivers would support a law making 30 km/hr the mandatory law in residential areas if they knew it could have a positive impact on child safety. A public ad campaign explaining how reduced speeds drastically reduce danger to pedestrians –especially children -- would be essential to a program introducing a 30 km/hr residential speed limit. The Office of Traffic Safety has introduced many educational programs such as the volunteer run Speed Watch Program, Digital Messaging Signs, Residential Pace Care Program, yet they have not suggested a public awareness campaign through radio, television and the internet to teach the public about the positive impact that 30 km/hr has on child safety. Telling the public to slow down, giving out tickets is one thing but explaining why this is so important to child safety is another. I don’t know about you but when my mother told me to clean up my room, it was helpful to not only be told “or else you won’t be able to go outside and play” but also why cleanliness and orderliness was a value to incorporate in my life. We need to educate the public to value pedestrian safety and to value 30 km/hr as a speed limit that ensures their safety – especially the safety of children.
According to the 2008 Safe Kids Canada report “more child pedestrian injuries take place on residential roads than anywhere else, and the danger is greatly increased as speed increases...child pedestrian incidents are a leading cause of injury-related death for Canadian children under the age of 14. A staggering 2,412 children are seriously injured each year and approximately 30 are killed. The average child pedestrian who is killed in Canada is male, between the ages of 10 and 14 and was crossing the street at an intersection within 5 kilometres of his home.”
Not all of us are willing to keep our children under lock and key at home in front of a computer. There are a growing number of parents saying that it is time our children went out to play in our neighbourhoods. We are seeing the result of children who are spending too much time in “safe” places but are becoming overweight and obese. We need to make our communities safe again by curbing the heavy footed amongst us who are choosing our communities to quickly get from point A to point B while texting and talking on their cell phones. A 30 km/hr residential speed limit with a strong public awareness campaign will go a long way to convincing even the most hurried amongst us of the value of a child’s safety in their community.

While in Toronto this October, 2009 I took these photos to show Edmontonians that Toronto, Canada has 30 km/hr residential speed limits as well as speed bumps to enforce this lower speed limit. I saw 2 types of speed bumps -- the low wide type featured in the picture above as well as the higher, narrower type. When I spoke to the City of Edmonton's Transportation Dept. a couple of years ago, I was told that Edmonton does not use speed bumps anymore because of issues around snow removal and that it is difficult for emergency vehicles to maneuver over them. I know for a fact that Toronto gets snow and also has emergency vehicles--I lived there for 8 years and saw snow, fire trucks, and ambulances.

I have learned that 115 St. North of 51 Ave. had speed bumps installed many years ago and when they had their road resurfaced recently, the speed bumps were reinstalled. If Toronto can have speed bumps -- a Canadian city that must adhere to the same national transportation standards as Edmonton-- and if speed bumps are being re-installed here in Edmonton, what is the Transportation Dept. saying? Sounds a bit like they don't want to be bothered.

Speed bumps would be more cost effective and efficient than having to pay Edmonton Police Service to do radar in our neighbourhoods. EPS has stated in the media that they are reluctant to use their manpower for speed enforcement so why not simply put in speed bumps? At the same time, we would have round the clock enforcement instead of enforcement only when EPS has a chance to come to our neighbourhoods.

Why is Speed an Important Road Safety Issue?

Eric Howard of Australia, keynote speaker at Edmonton's International Conference on Urban Traffic Safety showed this picture of how far a vehicle travels when a driver sees a pedestrian and attempts to stop at 30 km/hr versus at 50 km/hr. The driver going 30 km/hr travels 13 meters and the pedestrian remains uninjured. At 50 km/hr the stopping distance is doubled. It is likely that the pedestrian will experience severe injuries and very possibly death.

Mr. Howard went on to say that extensive international research confirms that "small changes in mean speeds can be expected to result in measurable and significant changes in crash outcomes". Research shows that "small increases in speed = large increases in crash risk".

And according to another speaker at the conference Bruce Corben of Monash University's Accident Research Centre in Melbourne Australia, Canada has reason for concern. Looking at the graph to the right we see that when we compare our fatalities per 100,000 population with other countries in the developed world-- namely (from left to right on the graph) the Netherlands, UK, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Canada and the USA-- we are the second highest for fatalities due to vehicle crashes. Only the USA surpasses us.

There is a disturbing trend when we look more specifically at Edmonton pedestrian injuries due to collisions between 1994-2008. Data provided by the City of Edmonton's Transportation Dept. shows that over the 15 year period, the number of pedestrian collisions was never higher than in 2008. In 2008 there were 395 pedestrians injured-- an increase of 6.2% from the previous year. Of the 404 pedestrians injured or killed, 62.1% were in a pedestrian crossing and had the right of way while 18.1% were crossing the road without the right of way. The number of cyclists injured in 2008 was 234 -- a 29.3% increase from the previous year and the second highest year over the 15 year period. The year 1999 had the highest number of cyclists injured with 247. One might consider that these increases were due to an increase in population however between 2007 and 2008 the population of Edmonton only increased by 1.5% and the number of passenger vehicles only increased by 4.8%. The complete report can be found at http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/2008_Annual_Collision_Report_FINAL.pdf

Edmontonians have to get serious about making their streets safer for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. We must look at the evidence traffic safety experts are offering us -- slower speeds mean fewer injuries and fatalities. This is a fact that we must impress upon our elected officials. Write a letter to our city councilors today and let them know you favour lowering the speed limit to 30 km/hr in residential communities. Their mailing address is 2nd Floor City Hall, 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, AB, T5J 2R7. A complete list of our councilors is below in my previous blog.

A Community's Worst Fears Realized

On July 15, 2009 at 7:00 pm in the Woodcroft community, a 13 year old male cyclist was critically injured when he was hit by a car. He suffered severe internal and head injuries. The cyclist was not wearing a helmet and was listening to an iPod at the time of the accident. Those of us in Woodcroft who have been working to reduce the speed and volume of traffic since 2006 have been bracing for the day when one of the children from our neighbourhood would be injured or killed in a traffic collision -- the question was only when and who. We knew as far back as 2006 when the City's Transportation and Streets Dept. conducted a traffic survey that there were 3,225 vehicles per weekday flowing by the very place where this child was injured. Of those 3,225 vehicles, 161 vehicles per weekday were going over 60 km/hr. Although the Transportation Dept. knew the situation of our roads there was nothing they could do because the numbers were not high enough to meet the National standards required for traffic calming.

Safe Kids Canada, a national injury prevention program of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, published in their Child Pedestrian Injuries Report 2007-2008 that "children are particularly vulnerable to pedestrian injuries because they are exposed to traffic threats that exceed their cognitive, physical, sensory and auditory development, and generally, boys are statistically more at risk than girls for all injuries". It goes on to say that children aged 10 - 14 years have the highest risk of pedestrian injuries and deaths and that "it is not unusual for pre-teens and teens to harbour exaggerated beliefs about their abilities and embrace an attitude of invincibility, which can lead to increased risk-taking." Given these facts--that children as pedestrians have certain developmental limitations and attitudes that can make them prone to being in an accident-- we need to take steps to make our communities safer for them.

Safe Kids Canada recommends a reduction in driver speed. "At speeds greater than 40 km/hr, both drivers and pedestrians have an increased potential for making mistakes in judging the time required to stop or cross the street safely, compounded by a driver's tendency to underestimate their speed. At a speed of 30km/hr, vehicles and pedestrians are able to co-exist with relative safety which means that drivers have sufficient time to stop for pedestrians, and pedestrians can make better crossing decisions. Lower traffic volumes can also result in a reduction of pedestrian injuries". They also recommend the use of roadside warnings to remind drivers when they are speeding as well as speed cameras and fines to enforce speed limits in residential areas. Their other recommendations are to encourage guided practice to teach child pedestrian safety and make communities more walkable. For the full report go to www.safekidscanada.ca.

It is time we heeded the advice of experts in traffic safety to prevent more of our children from being severly injured or killed because our residential traffic speeds are too high. The 13 year old Woodcroft cyclist would have sustained less severe injuries if he had been wearing a helmet and not an iPod but he also could have been saved by a lower speed limit of 30 km/hr versus the current 50 km/hr. Please contact our City Councilors and ask them to vote to lower the speed limit within residential communities to 30 km/hr. They will be voting on this issue in the fall. They can be reached by email at:

stephen.mandel@edmonton.ca
karen.leibovici@edmonton.ca
linda.sloan@edmonton.ca
ron.hayter@edmonton.ca
kim.krushell@edmonton.ca
tony.caterina@edmonton.ca
ed.gibbons@edmonton.ca
jane.batty@edmonton.ca
ben.henderson@edmonton.ca
bryan.anderson@edmonton.ca
don.iveson@edmonton.ca
amarjeet.sohi@edmonton.ca
dave.thiele@edmonton.ca

City Council to Vote on Lower Speed Limits in Edmonton Communities

In March 2009 Edmonton City Council sponsored an International Conference on Urban Traffic Safety. Presentations by each of the speakers can be found at the website of the Office of Traffic Safety. A major recommendation that came out of this conference was that the City needs to look at the safety of their current posted speed limit within residential neighbourhoods. A pedestrian hit by a vehicle traveling 50 km/hr -- the current posted speed limit within Edmonton's communities--has an extremely high chance of dying. A pedestrian hit at 30 km/hr has a very good chance of surviving. As the speed limit increases, so does the pedestrian's chances of dying from the impact.

Residents have intuitively known this and kept their children away from the high speed traffic that has flourished in many of our communities in recent years. Life in our neighbourhoods is receding away from the streets -- children are kept in back yards and at computers instead of riding their bikes and congregating at community playgrounds. The noise from traffic makes it difficult for neighbours to chat across hedges to one another. Fewer people outside both young and old means fewer eyes on the street keeping crime in check. With few people out on the sidewalk or streets, drivers go faster through our communities creating an unsafe environment for all. Our neighbourhoods' social life is impacted as well as the health of our children who are kept safe inside but at computers instead of being active in nearby playgrounds.

Currently in Woodcroft Community where I live a recent Transportation Dept. traffic survey determined that there are 4,200 vehicles/day passing by our Community League playground. Our playground is not located on an arterial road but at the corner of 2 collector roads in the heart of our community. A traffic survey done in 2006 found that 300 vehicles/day were going 60+ km/hr by this same playground. The City's Transportation Dept. is doing nothing about this situation. EPS has monitored our situation and found that we do not have enough vehicles going 65 km/hr -- 15 km/hr above the speed limit -- to warrant sending out personnel to give out tickets. We are told by the police that they have to give this much lee way because unless they ticket drivers 15 km/hr over the limit, the ticket will not stand up in court.

In October 2009 City Council will be discussing the possibility of lowering speed limits within Edmonton neighbourhoods. The questions they will raise are:

1. if we lower the speed limit within communities, what should it be?
2. if we lower the speed limit should it only apply to school and playground zones?
3. if we lower the speed limit, will EPS have enough personnel to enforce the new lower limit?

Answer to #1: From the above graph which was presented at the Urban Traffic Safety Conference, you can see that the safest vehicle speed for a pedestrian environment is 30 km/hr. The police will always give some lee way to drivers so if the speed limit is posted at 30 km/hr they will be ticketed when they reach 40 km/hr or 45 km/hr. This is at least better than 60 km/hr or 65 km/hr. If the speed limit is reduced only to 40 km/hr then we are almost back where we started -- 50 km/hr or 55 km/hr where the chances of a pedestrian dying are very high. So City Council, if they are willing to look at the evidence given at the conference they sponsored and attended, would do our citizens well, to vote for a 30 km/hr speed limit within residential neighbourhoods.

Answer to #2: Fred Wegman, Managing Director of the Institute for Road Safety Research, Netherlands stated at the International Conference that in order to increase speed limit compliance speed limits need to be uniform on residential roads, on arterials and on highways. He suggested that each type of road should have a uniform speed limit so that drivers know simply by the type of road they are on, what the speed limit is. You may have noticed that speed limits are rarely uniform in Edmonton except in neighbourhoods. With school and playground zones abolished in the early 70's by City Council, residential neighbourhoods are the only places in Edmonton that have the uniform speed limit of 50 km/hr -- a speed limit that has created a lot of fear for parents of young children. To encourage drivers to comply to the recommended safe speed limit of 30 km/hr it must be consistent throughout our communities.
And further, my children do not just ride their bikes near their school or near the playground. They are riding their bikes from our house to these areas. Our whole community is a sensitive area where I and many parents like me, want to know that our kids will be safe crossing the street in front of our homes which takes them to the playground on the other side of the community.

Answer to #3: Lower speed limits can be enforced using radar vans. The city has already purchased 4 radar vans for exclusive use by communities. It is conceivable that in the near future, each community within Edmonton could purchase their own radar van which could be moved from street to street to enforce the speed limit. Each radar van costs $50,000 -- an amount well within the reach of a community league's budget.

This October City Council will be debating these questions and I ask all of you to please email your Councilors and let them know that you want their vote to be based upon the traffic safety facts they learned at the International Conference on Urban Safety that they sponsored. Speed limits need to be lowered to 30 km/hr and lowered uniformly within our residential neighbourhoods for the sake of our physical safety as pedestrians and most of all for the physical health and safety of our children.