Speed limit rules changed

The city has adopted new guidelines for speed limits on urban and rural roads that rely on drivers to determine the most appropriate velocity. The guidelines that were produced by a national road association will be supplemented with a modified policy for school zones.

The report from the city’s traffic management department argues that “motorists drive at a speed which they find comfortable based on visual cues and their surroundings and not from the speed limit signs” and therefore road safety is improved by setting speed limits “that match the expectation” of drivers.

“The ideal speed limit would be self enforcing,” says the report. “In most cases, the majority of drivers do find the optimum travel speed, and it is inappropriate to set a posted speed limit that is inconsistent with driver’s perceptions, and rely on police enforcement to try to reduce operating speeds.”

The new policy follows guidelines released this year by the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC), a 95 year old organization that was originally called the Canadian Good Roads Association. It changed its name in 1970 to the Roads and Transportation Association and subsequently dropped the roads reference as it “expand[ed] its mandate to include all modes of transport for passengers and freight in the 1990s.

“TAC has a primary focus on roadways and their strategic linkages and inter-relationships with other components of the transportation system,” says the group’swebsite.