Townships looking at variety of ways to make rural roads safer

If there’s one hot-button topic across the townships of Essa, Springwater and Oro-Medonte, it’s speeding.

Over the last eight months, councils in each of Barrie’s bordering municipalities to the east, west and north have grappled with how best to solve the issue.

Essa Township has launched automated speed enforcement (ASE) in numerous locations around the township and are considering more. Springwater Township will be installing traffic calming bollards in select locations from May to October, and is looking at the viability of ASE across its territories.

Oro-Medonte is going a different route. The township has an existing bylaw that authorizes a reduction in the speed limit for multiple roads within the municipality. It was last reviewed and updated in 2022. Since then, a number of locations have been identified for additional review.

“Lowering speed limits alone will not address this issue,” wrote Jusin Metras, manager of infrastructure and capital projects for Oro-Medonte in his speed limit review report to council.

“Rather, a holistic approach is required,” Metras added. “An optimal program consists of establishing appropriate speed limits, proactive speed enforcement, community education, roadside safety — road design, signage, line painting, hazard mitigation etc. — and traffic calming in certain circumstances.”

According to the report, from Nov. 7 to 9, traffic counts with speed data were collected at seven locations throughout the township:

Metras said the data was assessed using the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) Canadian Guidelines for Establishing Canadian Speed Limits and review of 85th percentile travel speeds, which provides a means of evaluating speed limits in consideration of the road classification, function, physical characteristics and condition of any given road section.

“The intent of the guidelines is to enhance road safety through credible posted speed limits that match the expectation of drivers for a given road and its surrounding environment,” Metras wrote.

“When conducting a speed-limit review, common industry practice is to establish the 85th percentile speed as a starting point in determining whether the existing speed limit is appropriate,” he added.

The 85th percentile speed is the speed at or below which 85 per cent of motorists operate their vehicle on any given road. The 85th-percentile concept is based on the theory that the large majority of drivers:

Based on those assumptions, the 85th-percentile speed, which represents the majority, observed under good conditions, such as favourable weather and visibility, may be considered as the maximum safe speed for that location.

According to the results of the data collected at each location, only one location — Line 9 North, from Warminster Sideroad to Mount St. Louis Road — was recommended for a reduction in the posted speed limit, from 80 to 70 km/h.

However, three locations — Line 9 North from Warminster Sideroad to Mount St. Louis Road, Line 9 North from Mount St. Louis Road to Moonstone Road, and Line 14 South from Highway 11 to Lakeshore Road — have been recommended for “targeted enforcement.”

According to the data that has been collected, these three locations had the most speeders.

Sixty-one per cent of vehicles on Line 9 North, from Warminster Sideroad to Mount St. Louis Road, exceeded the limit.

Sixty-nine per cent of vehicles on Line 9 North, Mount St. Louis Road to Moonstone Road, were over the posted limit and 79 per cent of vehicles on Line 14 South, from Highway 11 to Lakeshore Road, were over the posted limit.

“The data collection on travel speeds has revealed the prevalence of excess travel speeds throughout the township, a concern that is consistently shared by many residents across the township,” Metras wrote in his report.

His conclusion mirrors what officials in Essa and Springwater have already discovered — speeding is the top concern for residents.

Springwater council has looked at a variety of options to reduce speeding, including designating additional community safety zones, installing temporary bollards, initiating ASE and reducing speed limits in various locations.

At a meeting last September, Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin said council must do something, even if it fails.

“This might be the wrong thing,” she said when township council debated the use of temporary bollards. “We might learn a very hard and valuable lesson. But I”m OK getting it wrong. I’m OK having to go to residents and say we tried.”

The township voted to install temporary traffic-calming bollards from May to October. Bollards feature a flexible plastic sign with a laminated speed limit that’s attached to a rubber-covered hinge anchored into the middle of a road. Together with two more plastic posts, one on each shoulder, they visually narrow the roadway, forcing drivers to slow down and exercise caution while passing through.

Springwater council also directed staff to prepare a report containing details, options and costs associated with an ASE program.

Essa Township announced the launch of an ASE program last July. It went live at the beginning of this year.

The program was designed to reduce speeders in community safety zones across the township. When Essa launched the ASE program, it was focused on five community safety zones — Denney Drive, 25 Sideroad, 20 Sideroad, 5th Line and King Street.

The first camera to go live, in early January, was on the 25th Sideroad, between the 9th and 10th Lines.

Essa officials said the camera on the 25th Sideroad has generated about 30 tickets per day, on average.

Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BarrieToday.com