Lower speed limits coming to some streets in Mississauga
Published June 24, 2020 at 9:27 pm
If you’re worried about speeding, you might be relieved to hear that lower speed limits and speeding cameras are in the works for some streets in Mississauga.
At a June 24 meeting, Mississauga city council received an update on the city’s Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) program, an automated system that uses a camera and a speed measurement device to detect and capture images of vehicles travelling in excess of the posted speed limits.
Council also approved several recommendations in the corporate report about speed management initiatives.
The initiatives are part of the city’s Vision Zero project, which aims to improve road safety.
“We continue to take action to make our roads safer for everyone. Mississauga is taking a thoughtful and planned approach to implementing Automated Speed Enforcement in Mississauga to ensure it is aligned with new provincial regulations and effective for years to come,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie in a statement.
“Our goal is to keep our city safe and have zero deaths on our roads to achieve Vision Zero. To do this, we need to continue to lower speed limits in our neighbourhoods and implement speed reduction initiatives to create safer communities for our families to walk, cycle and play in. Given the recent rash of deadly speed-related accidents on roads across the GTA, we will be exploring how we can fast-track the implementation of ASE on major arterial roads.”
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In addition to the ASE update, council also received an update on the Neighbourhood Area Speed Limit Project, which includes lowering speed limits to 30 km/h in neighbourhood school zones. It also involves implementing school area community safety zones and lowering speed limits on residential streets to 40 km/h.
In October 2019, council approved amendments to the traffic bylaw that will gradually lower speeds on residential streets from 50 to 40 km/h. To-date, 11 neighbourhoods have received 40 km/h signage at the entry and exit points.
The city says the next step is to identify and implement these zones, as the new limits must be introduced before the ASE program can be launched.
The report highlights the steps and processes required to implement ASE, such as establishing a task force to create court capacity for ASE (as more tickets are expected to be issued).
The report also calls for phase 1 of ASE to be delayed until January 2021 to allow school zone speed limits to be lowered and community safety zones to be identified and signage installed.
It also asks the city to establish a preferred method for dealing with ASE charges, such as by issuing tickets under the Provincial Offences Act (POA) or through the Administrative Penalty System (APS) – a system of administering penalties used by a municipality to regulate by-laws
“The city has identified speeding as a problem on its roads and council’s support of the implementation of these important speed initiatives will deliver on the actions in our Transportation Master Plan,” said Andy Harvey, Director, Traffic Management and Municipal Parking, in a statement.
“It is unfortunate that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the implementation of both our Neighbourhood Area Speed Limit Project and ASE. However, we are continuing to position the City to deliver ASE in an efficient, yet co-ordinated effort.”
Harvey added that provincial-wide closures including the court system, due to the coronavirus pandemic, has impacted the delivery of Mississauga’s ASE program.
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