Oxford council OK’s new speed limits, safety measures on rural roads

Oxford County drivers will soon see new speed limits and safety upgrades on several major rural roads.

Council backed a staff recommendation Wednesday to implement new measures on county roads in seven rural communities in Norwich and South-West Oxford townships.

The measures, which vary by community, include new photo radar signs, warning signs, speed limit and speed zones changes, added streetlights and new boundaries for an existing community safety zone.

count. Deb Gilvesy introduced an amendment to approve almost all changes proposed in a staff report, except a speed limit increase to 60 from 50 km/h on the main street in Springford, northeast of Tillsonburg.

Gilvesy said she has traveled that stretch of roadway her entire life and, referring to the report, questioned how a Ministry of Transportation study on raising highway speed limits applied to the tiny hamlet.

“There were quite a significant number of residents who did reach out to me, citing school buses as a concern and children in the area,” she said, calling the proposed speed limit increase “a recipe for disaster.”

count. Brian Petrie hesitated to raise the speed limit because the intersection of the main street and Oxford Road 13 already is hard to navigate. (The county road does not run through the main street; there are two three-way stops instead).

“The majority of trafficking is zigzagging through there,” he said. “It creates a difficult situation, and there is lots of confusion.”

Warden Marcus Ryan was the only politician to speak against the amendment, which council later passed.

“I’m confident that while we can never do enough on road safety, this is an evidence-based solution,” Ryan said of the staff recommendation. “It’s consistent with the policy that county council adopted before.”

The county conducted speed management and road safety reviews at various locations in response to residents’ and municipal officials’ concerns. The following roads will see changes:

Council received letters and heard comments from residents concerned by some of the proposed changes.

Joan Morris told council she wants a four-way stop at Curries Road and Middletown Line, where multiple serious collisions have occurred.

“Thresholds are arbitrary,” she said, adding data used to justify the speed limit reduction on Curries Road does not account for traffic volume on Middletown Line.

“How many collisions and potentially deaths will it take? Not only do we worry about those involved in collisions. . . but we also worry about the toll taken on friends, family and, of course, our own township and county first responders.”

In another delegation, David Moura asked council to drop the speed limit on Sweaburg Road to 60 km/h – staff had recommended cutting the existing 80 km/h limit to 70 km/h – and boost signage to indicate there are children in the area .

“We have small children who board the bus in front of our house, as well as our neighbours’,” Moura said.

Up the street from his house is a hill with limited sight lines. “It’s not uncommon to see people passing other cars up that hill.”

Neither request was adopted.

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