ve to slow down in the new year, when the Town will introduce a new speed limit in residential areas.
Town council voted Oct. 13 to reduce speed limits on residential roads across the community to 40 kilometres per hour. The speed limit along Elizabeth Street, McRae Street and North Railway Street will also be reduced to 40 km/hr.
There will be no changes on roads where the speed limit has been reduced to 30 km/hr or for the 15 km/hr speed limit in alleys.
The speed limit will remain 50 km/hr on Northridge/Southridge Drive, Milligan Drive, 32 Street and Big Rock Trail.
The new speed limits are in effect immediately, though municipal enforcement manager Tim Stobbs said enforcement will not likely begin until after Jan. 1.
“We need to implement signage and educate the public before we really begin enforcing these speed limits,” said Stobbs. “It probably won’t really be in effect until well into the new year.”
New speed limit signs will be installed at each intersection where drivers will enter a 40 km/hr zone, he said. Signs stating “all roads 40 kph unless otherwise posted” will also be posted at all entrances to Okotoks.
The total cost of the signs will be $15,000 and it could take Town crews more than two months to install them, said Stobbs.
“It’s a big enough project that it’s a drain to put up the signs, as far as manpower, so it could take a while to implement,” he said. “I want to take this opportunity for our community to digest and understand that this is happening before it is enforced.”
Stobbs said reducing speed limits in residential areas will make roads safer.
“We’re worried about survivability,” he said. “We want to pass on that it’s for the purpose of safety. We’re trying to find a balance between making vehicles flow at a good rate of speed and the survivability of incidents for pedestrians.”
According to the World Health Organization, pedestrians have a 95 per cent chance of survivability in an incident with a vehicle traveling at 30 km/hr. At 60 km/hr, there is a 90 per cent fatality rate. The fatality rate at 50 km/hr is 55 per cent.
“I think a 50 per cent possibility of fatality as a parent, as a person, is abhorrent,” said Stobbs. “We’re trying to seek the sweet spot in the middle while still allowing traffic to move through the community so we can help cars move and increase survivability.”
Lowering all residential speed limits in Okotoks to 40 km/hr will increase safety and build continuity for drivers by having almost one single speed on town roads, he said.
“The majority of the south side is already 40 km/hr, but the north side is almost entirely still 50 km/hr, which makes it confusing for drivers moving from one part of town to the other,” he said.
Residents in several neighbourhoods have approached council to have their communities lowered to a 40 km/hr speed limit, so the solution of a town-wide speed reduction makes sense, he said.
“People are starting to request the 40 km/hr speed limit on their own because they see its value,” said Stobbs.
He said it is important for the public to understand the purpose of lowering residential speed limits is not to create a revenue generator, but to increase safety for all Okotoks residents.
“Slower speeds add reaction distance, and every foot or two you have could save a kid’s life,” Stobbs said.
“The difference for you to drive 40 km/hr instead of 60 km/hr along, say, Cimarron Blvd. or other roads in town might save you 25 seconds. Is 25 seconds worth a life?”
