City of Waterloo Council Summary February 26, 2024
** The council summary below provides a snapshot of the major items presented at Monday’s council meeting. The council meeting webcast is available on the City of Waterloo YouTube page. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.
Speed Management plan has positive impact on reducing driver speeds
Staff presented the first annual progress update on the Speed Management plan, noting the positive impact that the first year of implementation has had on reducing driver speeds on residential streets. In 2023, school zones across the City of Waterloo had their speed limits reduced to 30 km/h, and speed limits were also reduced on residential streets in Wards 2 and 7. Historical speed data was compared to speed data collected one to two months after new speed limit signs were installed. In the ten school zone locations where speed data was collected, the overall average 85th percentile speed of drivers in schools zones decreased by approximately 3.4 km/h. In the 17 locations where speed data was collected in Wards 2 and 7, the average 85th percentile driver speeds decreased by 4.4 km/h.
The City of Waterloo's Speed Management Plan is one tool being used by transportation staff to enhance pedestrian safety, cycling and motor vehicle safety and align with Vision Zero principles to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries.
Council approves new traffic program with proactive data analysis for road safety
Council unanimously approved a new Traffic Calming and Collision Countermeasure Program that will allow staff to take advantage of new data sources to proactively identify locations and methods for traffic calming and road safety improvements. Rather than rely on traditional point-in-time traffic observation data, staff will investigate options to use local transportation “big data”. Amalgamated by a third-party vendor from a variety of sources (such as mobile phone data, smart cards, geocoded social media records, GPS navigation and commercial fleets), the data would include information on operating speeds, trip origin-destination, near-miss collisions and harsh breaking on all city streets. The information can then be analysed by City staff to better understand driver behaviour and identify potential locations for ongoing speed reduction and road safety improvements.
The previous Traffic Calming Policy (from 2011) used reported vehicular collisions and point-in-time observation data of traffic volume and vehicle speeds to determine traffic calming measures, often at the request of a particular neighbourhood. The new program will allow staff to be more proactive, access information from across the city and ensure that all neighbourhoods are equally represented in this data-driven, evidenced-based decision-making process.
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Media contact:
Cari Van Niekerk
Director, Corporate Communications
cari.vanniekerk@waterloo.ca