City hall eyes lower speed limits along major London roads near schools

Slashing speed limits in school zones on London’s busiest roads by 10 kilometers/hour may not be enough to make them as safe as possible, one city politician says.

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City hall staff is recommending a 10 km/h reduction in the speed drivers can legally reach around schools on major streets like Highbury Avenue or Oxford Street. It echoes a similar reduction on less-travelled streets near schools, enacted in 2016.

While most school zones would drop from to 40 km/h from 50 under this proposal, several of London’s main roads – including Fanshawe Park Road, Highbury Avenue North and Oxford Street West – will drop to 50 km/h from 60. And in the case of Wellington Road South, the newly lowered limit would be 60 km/h.

It may not be good enough, says one city politician.

“Some speed limits are still pretty high,” Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow said. “I think 50 km/h is too much for school (zones). I think I may ask if any of those could be reduced just a little more during school hours.”

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School zones are defined as roads that adjoin the entrance to or exit from a school, including ones located within 150 meters of the roadway in either direction, the staff report said. The new speed limits would only be in effect from 7 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday from September to June.

City hall slashed speed limits around schools on interior, less-travelled streets by 10 km/h in 2016, the staff report notes.

“Expanding reduced school zone speed limits to major streets bolsters the city’s commitment to improving road safety, particularly in areas with high pedestrian activity,” the report states.

The push is part of London’s Vision Zero strategy, whose objective is “to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.”

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First implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, Vision Zero is a global movement dedicated to curbing traffic deaths.

“Ongoing collision monitoring reinforces the need to improve pedestrian safety,” city hall official Kelly Scherr wrote in the staff report. “Research supports the effectiveness of lower speed limits in decreasing traffic incidents.”

About 250 citizen signatures will be required to cut the speed limits and it will cost an estimated $30,000, city staff say. Politicians will debate the recommendation July 23.

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