Newmarket is trying to slow you down

Yorkregion.com
May 26, 2016
By Chris Simon

Newmarket staff is frustrated when it comes to slowing down speeders.

In an information report on traffic safety, town engineering services director Rachel Prudhomme admitted the municipality is having a difficult time getting speeding under control on most of its roads.

“Speeding is occurring on most of the town streets,” she said. “The town cannot eliminate speeding. We can only attempt to reduce speeds to improve the community’s quality of life. While speeding on local roads is one of the top community concerns, there is no specific initiative that can and will reduce all vehicular speeds to the posted level.”

The report outlines several steps the town plans to take in an effort to improve traffic safety in town, including attempts at speed reduction on municipal roadways. The town’s engineering services department is purchasing solar pole-mounted radar boards. The boards can be erected in specific trouble spots for an extended period of time. One hundred boulevard signs with speeding-related messages will also be installed around town, along streets of concern identified by staff, council members and residents.

Staff will also consider enhanced road markings at intersections that typically have a high number of pedestrian crossings. Right now, town crews mark pedestrian crossing areas using single white lines 2.5 metres apart, which cross the road transversely at an intersection.

But York Region currently uses a new ladder-style paint design at most signalized intersections, a method that will be adopted by Newmarket. It acts as a visual contrast to pedestrians, making them easier to see for motorists.

And more cycling lanes will be added to town roads in the coming years, an initiative that should improve traffic safety. Bike lanes narrow the vehicle travel path, which can reduce speeds.

While tracking down Newmarket-specific collision numbers can be difficult, according to York Region’s 2015 traffic safety report, there were about 160 pedestrian-involved crashes annually on region roads between 2012 and 2014. During the same time period, collisions involving cyclists increased by 18 per cent, reaching 107 in 2014.

Mayor Tony Van Bynen says many of the recommendations in the town report should help local drivers become more aware of their surroundings. He anecdotally noted several town roadways where traffic safety is a concern, including Huron Heights Drive, Ivsbridge Boulevard, Sandford Street, Millard and Woodspring avenues, and the area around the Savage Road and Yonge Street intersection.

The community safety zones around schools - where fines for driving infractions are already doubled - also need some focus.

“The issue of road safety has been ongoing and is probably an issue in every municipality across Ontario,” Van Bynen said. “The school zones are where we have the highest risk. Our children are the most vulnerable, and they’re the most concentrated when they’re going to and from school.”

Although it’s not included in the town’s plans at the moment, Van Bynen suggests radar boards could be equipped to take pictures of licence plates. That information would then be sent to the York Regional Police’s Road Watch program, and the vehicle owner would get a warning letter in the mail, to let them know they were caught speeding.

A town-wide transportation mitigation study, which should be presented to council around mid-fall, is also in development.