Slow down! York Region reducing speeds on 2 Georgina streets

Yorkregion.com
May 18, 2023

The Region of York is reducing speed limits on 10 roads across the region, two of which are in Georgina.

The Queensway South and Weir’s Sideroad are slated for speed limit reductions.

In an effort to limit the number of speed changes and create more consistent speeds limit in the area, The Queensway South is reduced to 50 km/h just south of Joe Dales Drive to Glenwoods Avenue.

Weir’s Sideroad is reduced to 70 km/h just north of Ravenshoe Road to Old Homestead Road.

Other regional roads slated for speed limit reductions include: Lloydtown-Aurora Road in King Township; Woodbine and Warden avenues and McCowan and Kennedy roads in Markham and Whitchurch-Stouffville; Stouffville Road in Whitchurch-Stouffville; and Ninth Line Markham.

Setting consistent speed limits helps to encourage compliance and improves safety.

According to the region, speeding is one of the top traffic violations. Annually, about 40,000 speeding tickets are issued, amounting to about two-thirds of all traffic offences.

And about 55 per cent of all fatal collisions over the past two years were related to speeding.

“As our communities continue to grow and more people are travelling, either walking, cycling, taking transit or driving, it is important we are adjusting speed limits appropriately to ensure everyone is safe,” said York Region chairperson and CEO Wayne Emmerson.

“Pedestrians and cyclists are vulnerable travellers and, as vehicle speed increases, severe injury rates from collisions with pedestrians and vehicles rise dramatically.”

If a pedestrian was hit by someone driving 30 km/h, the pedestrian has a 90 per cent survival rates. That survival rate drops dramatically to only 20 per cent if the pedestrian was hit by someone driving 60 km/h.

The region recently installed an automated speed enforcement (ASE) camera on Baseline Road, just west of Dalton Road.

Baseline Road is one of nine prioritized locations across the region, which also includes 17 community safety and school zone areas.

According to the region, speeds are reduced by about 10 km/h when an ASE camera is present and speed limit compliance increases by about 25 per cent.