Calgary Wants To Drop Speed Limits In Residential Areas To As Low As 30km
Your commute around the city may take a little longer as city council considers reducing Calgary's speed limits to as low as 30 km/h.
According to the Calgary Herald, a report suggesting dropping residential speed limits is set to be presented to the city council on Wednesday, September 30.
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It’s like you’re essentially turning your whole community into a playground zone.
Coun. Ward Sutherland to the Calgary Herald
It’s suggesting that residential speed limits in the city be reduced to 40 km/h with the goal of eventually dropping them to 30 km/h.
The current speed limit on residential roads sits at 50 km/h.
There has been much debate about changing the city’s speed limits in the past and in July of this year, the city released a speed limit review claiming that changing speed limits on residential and collector roads would only add around two minutes of travel time to a daily commute.
In Calgary alone, the city estimates an annual societal cost of around $1.2 billion which includes the cost of first responders, property damage, and loss of productivity after a collision.
Their studies found that reducing speed by just 1% would lead to all collisions being reduced by 2%.
A change in the speed limit is not set to happen right away as the city is looking for buy-in from drivers, says Global News.