East Gwillimbury lowering speed limit to 40 km/h on all local roads

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 10, 2021

East Gwillimbury drivers are going to have to slow down. The town is lowering the speed limit on all local subdivision roads from 50 to 40 km/h.

As part of the process, more than 150 new speed limit signs will be installed on local roads.

"Council is committed to ensuring our roads and streets are safe for everyone," Mayor Virginia Hackson said. "I am excited that together with our partners we are launching this important initiative to make local town roads safer for everyone."

Council approved the safe streets initiative earlier this summer. As part of the initiative, staff worked with York Regional Police to address speeding in different areas in town. The speed limit decrease will apply to approximately 300 town roads.

School and park zones will remain at 40 km/h.

"In Mount Albert, we have got the speed limit at 50 on some street and the guys in there trucks are sort of laughing," Ward 3 Coun. Cathy Morton said. "Many of the small children are out playing and it just makes me shiver."   

Hackson said one of biggest complaints from residents is local traffic going way too fast with children playing on the street and sidewalk.

"I think our residents will be pleased with this."

Mount Albert resident and business owner Doug Willitts has long been advocating for drivers to slow down in town. He said King Street and Centre Street are the big problems in town.

"Everybody likes it," Willitts said of the lower speed limits.

But he's not sure the new limits will actually slow down traffic.

"It's a big change, but the problem is going to be enforcing it," he said. Road design is just as big an issue as speed limit, he added.

While the move was lauded by council members, Ward 2 Coun. Tara Roy-DiClemente agreed it probably won't slow down traffic. "I don't think that lowering the speed limit will have much of an appreciable impact on how people drive," she said. "I just want us to be cognizant that this won't be the silver bullet we are seeking."

That sentiment was echoed by Ward 1 Coun. Terry Foster. "Unless you have a police officer sitting on every street, you will never slow some people down," he said.

Several municipalities throughout York Region and the province have implemented the 40 km/h posted speed limit on their local residential road network. Aurora and Newmarket adopted townwide 40 km/h posted speed limits years ago.

The estimated cost of the program is $30,000.

Entry and exit gateway signs will identify the legal speed limit that applies to all roadways within an area.

In new subdivisions, signs will be installed through development at the time of construction. In existing subdivisions, gateway signage will be installed at entry and exit points to allow for uniformity of speed limits within those communities. There will also be some additional internal speed signs in strategic locations to remind motorists of the 40 km/h speed limit on roads as required.