Calgary Speed limits to be standard 30km/hr?

[Ducay]

30 on "true" residential roads.

50 on any sort of collector or boulevard makes sense; but defining that is impossible, so anything beyond 50 in residentials as a rule is absurd.

[BBQorMILDEW]

We’re getting so soft as a society.

[btimbit]

I generally do 40 on smaller residential roads anyway, but 30? Is there actually any proven reason for this change? Or is it just like when they changed the playground zone times, just a feel good activity that had nothing to do with safety

[GGG]

Originally Posted by username

Define loss of life per year - being in your car listening to music actually being alive?

You're hardly comparing apples to apples here.......from a strictly utilitarian stand point. Not changing the goal posts but biggest impact is going to be on companies in Calgary. It's not as though everyone is going to leave one minute earlier to get to work, they will just leave at the same time as they always do and likely show up one minute later.

I would say that time spent commuting in a vehicle has zero value as far as life goes. In fact time in a vehicle probably actively shortens your life due to sitting and breathing in carcinogens.

But let’s say your right and the affect is born by companies.. So say 500k workers = 1 million minutes per day @ $40/hr so 660k per day or about 150 million in lost productivity per year. 1-2 lives is not worth 150 million dollars and you would be far better off increasing taxes a nominal amount this money on other things if your concern is to maximize harm reduction. I think current road design assigns the value of a life at around 10 million. As Cliff said earlier we should also consider the reduction in injury collisions so Per this article

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/calgaryh...it-and-run/amp

The societal cost of pedestrian collisions in Calgary is about 80 million. Now given at most this law could affect 50% and would affect less once collectors are removed one could estimate that the societal benefit is 20-40 million dollars. So this law does not make sense.

[OMG!WTF!]

You have to adjust your life toll for winter as well. 4-6 months a year 30 km/hr is a dream.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

You have to adjust your life toll for winter as well. 4-6 months a year 30 km/hr is a dream.

Do pedestrian collisions and fatalities drop in winter months because of the speed reduction or increase becuase of ice? If they increase because of ice than the benefit of reducing the speed limit decreases as it won’t affect the winter rate if accident rates are higher in summer than the speed reduction would have more of an affect.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Ducay

30 on "true" residential roads.

50 on any sort of collector or boulevard makes sense; but defining that is impossible, so anything beyond 50 in residentials as a rule is absurd.

The simple rule of thumb is anything with a yellow dividing line is a collector or up. It would require signs at 40, 50, 60 on that type of street.

[FireGilbert]

Too funny Calgary already has the ridiculous playground zones and now they want to turn every residential street into a playground zone. My proposal:

-Get rid of playground zones
-School zones upped to 40km/h
-Residential streets downed to 40km/h
-Remove speed traps and devote more police resources to patrolling residential streets

This promotes safety while not being a crazy over kill.

[Swayze11]

Originally Posted by BBQorMILDEW

We’re getting so soft as a society.

Yea, anyone that can’t handle getting hit by a vehicle going 50 km/h, totally soft.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Too funny Calgary already has the ridiculous playground zones and now they want to turn every residential street into a playground zone. My proposal:

-Get rid of playground zones
-School zones upped to 40km/h
-Residential streets downed to 40km/h
-Remove speed traps and devote more police resources to patrolling residential streets

This promotes safety while not being a crazy over kill.

A reasonable proposition

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Bunk

I tweeted this comparison of two Calgary residential streets a while back. One promotes speed, one promotes slowing down and proceeding with caution - automatically.

https://twitter.com/joshyyc/status/994973828341100545

I actually think the one on the left is safer. Visibility is the most important factor in car on pedestrian collisions. And while most people will drive slower along the curved road, we have a lot yahoos in our neighbourhood - mostly dudes in their 20s who still live at home and like to rod-on-'er.

The road in front of our house is like the one on the right, though somewhat wider, and it's a collector road with a lot of traffic. Because of the curve, and the cars and trees along it, as a pedestrian you're mainly relying on your hearing to tell if there's a car coming. Which isn't ideal. I have to cross the street to get my mail, and I have to jog now and then to make it.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Bunk

A reasonable proposition

So it will never happen, especially the removal of photo speed traps.

[CRXguy]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Too funny Calgary already has the ridiculous playground zones and now they want to turn every residential street into a playground zone. My proposal:

-Get rid of playground zones
-School zones upped to 40km/h
-Residential streets downed to 40km/h
-Remove speed traps and devote more police resources to patrolling residential streets

This promotes safety while not being a crazy over kill.

That would be too easy.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I actually think the one on the left is safer. Visibility is the most important factor in car on pedestrian collisions.

The road in front of our house is like the one on the right, though somewhat wider, and it's a collector road with a lot of traffic. Because of the curve, and the cars and trees along it, as a pedestrian you're mainly relying on your hearing to tell if there's a car coming. Which isn't ideal. I have to cross the street to get my mail, and I have to jog now and then to make it (there aren't any crosswalks anywhere near).

Narrower lanes and roads with more complexity automatically cue greater attention. Inattentiveness combined with speed are the biggest factors in both the frequency and severity of collisions. There are a lot of studies and empirical evidence on this. This is how places like Sweden and New York in their vision zero initiatives have achieved the tangible improvements in public safety. Yes, it is counter intuitive, but provably true.

[CliffFletcher]

How dumb do you have to be to get enough photo radar tickets that it makes you mad, but not mad enough to change how you drive? If the current fines aren't deterring drivers, maybe we should adopt the policy they have in Finland where the fine is a proportion of your salary.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

How dumb do you have to be to get enough photo radar tickets that it makes you mad, but not mad enough to change how you drive? If the current fines aren't deterring drivers, maybe we should adopt the policy they have in Finland where the fine is a proportion of your salary.

I know people that simply don't care money is not an issue. On proportional fines not sure how I feel about that.

[Mr.Coffee]

I don't understand why the speed would need to be reduced now vs. when these speed limits were introduced in year whatever decades ago.

Are people walking around on the road? Don't you guys use sidewalks? When you approach intersections, do you not look to see if cars are coming / around or do you just wander on in hoping for the best?

A minute to commutes (both ways, every single time you leave your community- so multiple times a day probably?) actually is a big deal to many people. The city has grown and as such commute times generally speaking have grown. Every thing the city has done over the last (forever?) has been to make it harder or more annoying to drive. We live in Canada. Our city's footprint has grown ever larger and affordability on the inner-city side is strictly for millionaires or renting.

There's no reason that speed limits can't be better enforced with technology (auto cameras, which I am confident will pay for themselves in tickets within a year or two at most key residential neighbourhoods) or people can teach their kids and family to avoid wandering onto the roads.

What has changed in society from before to today that warrants this change? Poster who said society is getting soft is absolutely correct. Maybe if you're walking with your kids on the sidewalk get off your phone so they don't wander into traffic without you paying attention.

Drivers are literally the target of everything these days. As Bunk says, I borderline think things get wholesale safer if you move speed limits to the actual street engineered design, and we'll watch people drive more cautiously. Issue is the precious revenues.

Is it not possible that people are observing drivers going too fast because there are already so many impediments to driving that drivers are simply impatient / annoyed? So many areas in the city with lights that could simply be 4-way stops, for example. My community has like 4 playground zones. Takes forever to get out of and not a child in site virtually ever.

[Mr.Coffee]

dp

[btimbit]

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by zamler

So it will never happen, especially the removal of photo speed traps.

The one change I would add to that would be to reinvest fine money into effective street design changes that will result in less speeding. Design matters and a self enforcing system is better than a bad system being constantly enforced.