Hamilton making the speed limit 40 km/h in all its neighbourhoods

Notice to drivers with heavy feet: the city is reducing the speed limit in Hamilton neighbourhoods over the next three years to 40 km/h.

City council's public works committee voted Wednesday to gradually lower the limit from 50 km/h to 40 on "local and minor collector roadways," an effort to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities on neighbourhood roads. It will also reduce the limits to 30 km/h within 150 metres of a school boundary.

• View a list of Hamilton neighbourhoods where speed limits will change this year

If city council approves the change Friday, it will cost $2.5 million over three years. The city would start with 45 neighbourhoods this year. 

Each year, the city fields about 700 calls about speeding and aggressive driving. The change will fill a resident demand, said John-Paul Danko, Ward 8 (west Mountain) councillor.

"During the (election) campaign, traffic and speed were by far the biggest issue that residents brought up," he said Wednesday. "Through our office, traffic and speeding is the biggest issue that's brought up."

The city has already been reducing speed limits on a street-by-street basis since 2015. In Ward 4, for example, all local streets are 40 km/h, including Ottawa Street.

In 2017, though, the province passed a bill allowing municipalities to lower the limit on all roads in a designated area by passing a bylaw and posting a sign, said Edward Soldo, the city's director of transportation operations and maintenance.

Council approved lowering speed limits in February as part of its Vision Zero action plan, which aims at eliminating deaths on Hamilton's roads.

In 2017, there were 239 roadway collisions involving pedestrians, and 176 involving cyclists.