As part of its role and mandate to ensure that our residents and visitors can enjoy livable, sustainable, and accessible neighbourhoods, the City of Cambridge operates and supports a number of initiatives to promote road safety.
NEW – Cambridge to pilot reduced speed limits in four residential neighbourhoods
The pilot project was presented to Council on March 2nd*, see the 40km/h Neighbourhood Speed Limit Pilot or Council Report for more information.
| Speed Management |
| The City has a series of tools to create more liveable neighbourhoods by mitigating the impacts of traffic and speeding.
Through the Speed Management Program residents can request temporary speed awareness features, assessments for physical traffic calming, or launch their own neighbourhood improvement project.
If you would like to inquire about Speed Management email transportation@cambridge.ca.
| 40km/hr neighbourhood speed limit pilot |
| A pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of neighbourhood wide 40km/h speed limits is proposed for four Cambridge neighbourhoods.
The pilot project will take approximately two years to complete with implementation of the pilot zones beginning this Spring.
All streets within the pilot areas will have a speed limit of 40km/h marked with 40km/h Area signs at each boundary point. As of May 2018 the Highway Traffic Act allows speed limits other than 50km/h without block by block signage in bounded zones. While supplementary Area signs may be used within the pilot neighbourhoods, speed limits will not be signed along the street except where existing for school and park zones.
In order to provide a realistic sample of how reduced speed limit zones impact driver behaviour pilot areas were determined based on:
• Limited access points to minimize signage and transition areas
• One or more collector roads
• Historic atypical speeding
• Existing School and Park Zones
• Differing neighbourhood characteristics (i.e. urban/suburban/rural, modern/historic, grid/non-grid pattern streets)
See the detail maps for each neighbourhood:
1 – North Hespeler
2 – Lower Preston
3 – Central Cambridge
4 – Southwest Galt
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| Speed awareness |
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These programs are temporary by-request installations rotated through the city on a weekly or bi-weekly basis Spring-Fall.
| Radar speed boards |
| Radar Speed Boards, sometimes referred to as Driver Feedback Signs or Radar Message Boards, display real time speeds of oncoming vehicles.
The Radar Speed Board Program is an educational tool intended to promote safe and responsible driving throughout our neighbourhoods. The program educates motorists on the speeds at which they are driving, as well as educating residents about the real speed of vehicles traveling through their neighbourhood.
The program is based on the principal that many motorists are somewhat unaware that they are travelling at an excessive rate of speed, since most motorists generally drive at a speed deemed comfortable, depending on road geometry and roadside development. The operating speed electronically displayed on the Board is a strong visual reminder to the motorist to comply with the posted speed limit.
The Radar Speed Boards have been well-received as a community education tool to raise awareness of motorist travel speed through neighbourhoods. Boards are rotated through the city on a weekly basis.
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| Where's Tommy? |
| "Where’s Tommy & Friends?" is an interactive speed management initiative reminding drivers to slow down in residential neighbourhoods.
The "Where’s Tommy?" program aims to make drivers more aware of their surroundings, especially in school zones, at corners and pedestrian areas.
How does it work?
Residents can send an online request for Tommy or one of his friends to visit their street for a couple weeks;
If multiple requests come in, a waiting list will be formed;
Tommy & Friends will be rotated between streets for two weeks at a time and updated on an interactive map
Where is the crew this week?
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| Traffic calming |
| The City of Cambridge receives numerous complaints or concerns from residents every year regarding speeding, traffic volumes and/or cut through traffic in residential areas. The Transportation & Engineering Services division responds by investigating the need for traffic calming measures to restore the street back to its intended function in the neighbourhood.
While aggressive drivers could travel on any street, not all streets warrant traffic calming. Traffic calming is used when most drivers are travelling faster than expected or there is a significant amount of non-local traffic indicating that the road, not the driver, is not functioning as intended. The City has adopted a Traffic Calming Policy to identify and prioritize streets for intervention.
Many residents request interventions that are not traffic calming devices such as: traffic signals, all-way stops, or reduced speed limits. Using the wrong tools to address a traffic issue not only doesn't solve the problem, but may create additional safety issues. Examples of traffic calming devices include: on-street parking, speed cushions, curb extensions and raised intersections and crosswalks.
Often times after a traffic investigation is completed, the complaints or concerns do not represent the behaviour of the majority of road users and therefore do not qualify for traffic calming interventions. In these cases residents may apply for projects to slow down or beautify their streets through the Keep Calm: Resident-led Neighbourhood Improvements program.
| Seasonal on-road traffic calming signs |
| A type of “soft calming”, Seasonal Traffic Calming signs are a tool that can be used to control speeds, increase awareness of school and trail crossings or delineate lanes. As the name suggests the signs are seasonal and are only used between May and October. Outside of this time period the signs are removed as they impede winter maintenance operations and are likely to be damaged.
Examples include:
Speed reduction - Used in a series or in conjunction with physical traffic calming the signs are used to narrow the lane widths, altering driver behavior. The narrowed lanes make most drivers less comfortable speeding without negatively impacting emergency services and transit.
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