Regina committee votes in favour of lowering speed limit to 30 km/h in Cathedral neighbourhood

Regina's executive committee has endorsed a series of changes meant to lower the number of crashes in Regina, with the goal of reducing major injuries or deaths.

According to a staff report, the "vision zero" framework would implement changes across the city, including creation of a community safety zone with a 30 km/h speed limit 24 hours a day in the Cathedral neighbourhood.

Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Stevens has long advocated for changes in Cathedral, a neighbourhood that falls inside his ward. Two pedestrians died in separate traffic incidents in 2023 along 13th Avenue.

"I'll take a thousand angry calls because someone had to go [30 km/h] rather than taking calls about someone dying," Stevens said.

The committee voted 7-3 in favour of creating the community safety zone in Cathedral. The votes against were Ward 2 Coun. Bob Hawkins, Ward 5 Coun. John Findura and Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli. The changes still need to be approved at a regular city council meeting before being put into effect.

Carolyn Kalim, the city's manager of traffic engineering, admitted to executive committee that the vision zero initiative is a big departure from the city's previous efforts around street design and road safety.

She said feedback from residents was a large factor.

"We have to handle the requests that come in when people have lost a loved one and it's challenging to tell people to their face that [a fatal crash] was an inevitable outcome of a transportation system that moves vehicles efficiently," Kalim said.

Some councillors voiced concern with a lack of public consultation on the changes.

The staff report indicates that the city held four in-person community information sessions. Those events provided residents with information on the vision zero philosophy, according to the staff report.

Only 50 people attended those meetings, although city staff say they also consulted with stakeholders.

Kurtis Doney, the deputy city manager of city operations, confirmed that even if more consultations were held, they would not affect the city's recommendations.

The proposed creation of a community safety zone in the Cathedral neighbourhood drew the most attention from city councillors.

Nicole Strandlund, a Cathedral resident, endorsed the idea.

"It bothers me to no end that we are unable to enjoy a morning bike ride to school, or that I can't enjoy a bike ride or a walk with my dog to the grocery store that is a couple blocks from my house, because we're at risk of being hit by vehicles," Strandlund said.

The staff report showed that from 2015 to 2019 there were a total of 26,254 collisions in Regina, resulting in 3,918 injuries. Of those, 134 were major injuries and 19 were fatal.

Kalim said the data showed several neighbourhoods with higher rates of collisions.

"Cathedral was one of them. And as we were putting this plan together, we also had the unfortunate experience of seeing two additional fatalities in this neighbourhood in 2023," she said.

The two other neighbourhoods with high rates were North Central and Downtown/Heritage, Kailm said.

Along with the creation of a community safety zone, the vision zero framework would focus on protecting vulnerable road users, targeting aggressive driving, improving intersection safety, reducing impaired driving and lowering incidents of distracted driving.

A high-level estimate from the city indicates the vision zero project will cost $23.5 million from 2024 to 2028.

Of that funding estimate, $7.5 million is expected to be in new budget requests.