ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — One caller to the city’s 311 line described a dog who was killed by a speeding driver on Anspach Street.
A caller from Waterford Bridge Road said speeding cars frequently hit ducks near the Bowring Park duck pond.
On Blackmarsh Road, a caller described speeding motorists smacking into garbage cans on collection day.
A caller from Canada Drive said he was nearly knocked down twice at a crosswalk.
“A child is going to get killed next if we don’t slow people down,” reads a 311 call transcription from another concerned resident.
“Someone is going to be killed...There is a deaf child in the area — there is a sign. However, people are still not slowing down.” — 311 call from resident of Teakwood Drive
The Telegram’s request for speeding-related complaints made to 311 in the past two years resulted in a document 198 pages long.
The Telegram also put in a request for any emails exchanged between city councillors and residents on the topic of speeding. That request resulted in roughly 7,000 pages of records — too many for the city to redact in time for this story’s print deadline, and so the city’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (ATIPP) coordinator had to apply for an extension to the usual ATIPP timelines in order to go through the documents.
Coun. Sandy Hickman is the transportation lead on city council.
He said of all the complaints councillors hear, concerns about speeding — especially in residential areas — top the list.
The city has a traffic calming policy to address excessive speeds in neighbourhoods, but limited funds paired with a high number of streets that qualify for calming — currently more than 40 streets — means a street can be on the traffic calming list for years before seeing any change.
“The frustration is the pace of change,” Coun. Ian Froude told The Telegram.
The city’s tried speed feedback signs, speed bumps, an awareness campaign and traffic pilot projects but still the problem persists.
In 2019, Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) officers issued 6,908 speeding tickets on the Northeast Avalon. Still, many residents calling the city with speeding complaints are asking for more to be done to address the issue.
Enforcement efforts
“I think we can do all the traffic calming measures we want, and we can make all the changes we want, but increased enforcement is important if we’re going to deal with this problem effectively,” said Mayor Danny Breen during a council meeting on Sept. 8.
About a year ago, the city and other Northeast Avalon communities were part of a proposal from the RNC to purchase police cars in order to improve enforcement. Municipalities would provide funds for the vehicles, and the RNC would cover any other costs, such as staffing.
Mayor Danny Breen told The Telegram in October that roughly $200,000 was put aside in the city’s capital budget to go towards purchasing vehicles. He said he believed it was for four vehicles. Breen said the initiative was delayed at the RNC level, he believed because they were waiting for the cars.
In November, RNC spokesperson James Cadigan provided an update.
Cadigan said no funds were required by municipalities at this point, rather the RNC was instead allocating two vehicles to the initiative.
Cadigan said this unit will have eight officers to keep the cars on patrol 24-7 in the Northeast Avalon area from Conception Bay South to Pouch Cove.
He said there will be a committee with a representative from each community who will provide intelligence to the RNC about problem areas they’re hearing from residents.
In St. John’s alone, those areas are many.
The 311 call logs show residents reporting speeding issues on more than 50 streets.
A complaint from Firdale Drive: “I would estimate some vehicles driving over 100 km/h. I was in my driveway last night and I heard a vehicle coming from a distance up the road and when it passed by my house it was just a flash of lights.”
A woman from Teakwood Drive said she was almost T-boned: “Someone is going to be killed...There is a deaf child in the area — there is a sign, however people are still not slowing down.”
From Pleasant Street: “Very disturbing speeds.”
Hennessey’s Line: “Absolutely ridiculous.”
Exmouth Street: “[People are] consistently travelling extremely fast.”
Lower speed limit needed
Councillors Maggie Burton and Froude have both said they’d like to see the speed limit for all residential streets in the city lowered from the usual 50 km/h to 30 km/h.
It’s a change that’s well within the city’s purview under the Highway Traffic Act.
“When you look at the risk of injury if a person is struck by a vehicle at particular speeds, the difference between being struck at 50 km/h versus being struck at 40 or 30 is very substantial in the severity of injury or the likelihood of fatality,” said Froude.
We should have 30 km/hr on residential streets in St. John’s. https://t.co/jsuYrLfhu4
— Councillor Ian Froude (@ianfroude) November 2, 2020
However, he said the streetscape itself should also change in some way, such as made narrower with curb extensions, so that it further encourages drivers to slow down.
Another change the city hopes will address the speeding problem is photo radar, the use of which is now permitted under the Highway Traffic Act after it was updated last year. Radars are yet to be installed in St. John’s because the province is still working on regulations around their use, however those are expected to be completed by early winter, according to a spokesperson with the Department of Digital Government and Service NL.
Breen said the city will help in any way it can to get those installed once the province is ready.
“We think it’s going to answer a lot of the concerns around speeding,” he said.
Traffic policy under review
Until recently, Kamal Hossain was an engineering professor at Memorial University where he taught highway engineering. He’s now based in Ottawa.
He said there’s a tendency for drivers to speed more when there’s less enforcement, and suggested that increased enforcement would be beneficial in St. John’s. Hossain said many speed cameras are installed in Ontario, and they help by sending drivers a “correction message.”
He pointed to research out of Arizona that found speed cameras decreased by 88 per cent the odds that motorists would drive faster than the posted speed limit, and another study out of Portland, Maine found a speed camera program reduced average school zone speeds by 8 km/h.
Hossain also made a couple of suggestions that echo Froude’s comments.
He said narrowing the driving lane forces a reduction in speed, and that can be achieved by installing curb extensions. As well, he said reducing residential speed limits should improve road safety. He said a recent study out of Toronto noted a 28 per cent decrease in pedestrian-vehicle incidents when the speed limit in Scarborough was decreased from 40 km/h to 30 km/h.
Whether the city will make such a change to speed limits remains to be seen.
Froude said he’s hoping it’s something that will be considered during the city’s traffic calming policy review, which is currently underway.
Council requested staff to review the policy this summer, and staff are currently asking for council’s input before preparing for public engagement — asking the public what types of changes or priorities people would like to see for traffic calming. That’s expected to happen in early 2021.
Juanita Mercer reports on municipal politics in St. John’s.
@juanitamercer_
