Speed cameras, roundabouts and 'road diets' part of plan to eliminate Windsor road deaths, injuries
37 people seriously injured or killed on Windsor roads each year
Windsor is on the verge of launching an ambitious plan to eliminate all deaths and major injuries on its roads.
To get there, the city needs to install speed cameras, lower speed limits and create new policies for city street design to alter how people drive.
The report, called Vision Zero, outlines dozens of things Windsor needs to do in five, 10 or 15 years to eradicate deaths or serious injuries for people using city streets.
Windsor's Vision Zero plan needs to go before council for approval but it's been discussed by the city's environment, transportation and public safety committee.
These plans have been approved in cities like London, Hamilton, and Toronto.
The aim is to design and build roadways so people don't get seriously injured or killed because of predictable human behaviour.
The four most common identified driver behaviours following a collision between 2015 and 2019 were:
- Failing to yield at an intersection: People made an improper turn, failed to yield the right-of-way or disobeyed traffic controls in 35 per cent of fatal and major injury collisions
- Vehicle speeds: People were going too fast for conditions, exceeding the speed limit or lost control in 29 per cent of fatal and major injury collisions
- Drug and Alcohol Impairment: People had been drinking in 12 per cent of fatal and major injury collisions
- Inattentive driving: Identified in 10 per cent of fatal and major injury collisions
Residential speed limits to be lowered
Reducing speed limits is one of the key elements of the plan.
"If we actually reduce the speed we can make big progress," said Amanda O'Rourke, executive director of 8 80 Cities which aims to create safer cites for people of all ages.
O'Rourke said studies show a pedestrian is 70 per cent likely to survive if they're struck by a driver going 40 km/h.
That drops to 15 per cent if the driver is going 50 km/h.
"Speed is a really big factor in terms of thinking Vision Zero."
Windsor council is being asked to reduce all residential speed limits by 10 kilometres to 40 km/hr.
It was last considered in 2021 and included a one-time cost of $734,000, and $39,000 annually to maintain.
Speed cameras could come to Windsor next year
But reducing speed limits doesn't mean people will follow the law.
This plan calls for automated speed cameras to be installed, similar to cities like Sudbury, Barrie and Toronto.
City staff are preparing a report, likely to go before council in the spring. If approved, cameras could be put in on city streets before the end of 2024.
Council first asked staff to look into the idea in 2020.
Street redesigns for safety
The plan also supports the development of a Complete Streets Policy, which through street design would make road users safer.
"I think speed limits are important, but we actually have to design our streets in a way that also show drivers how to how to manage their speed," said O'Rourke.
Windsor's executive director of operations Shawna Boakes used Ypres Avenue as an example.
She said despite the 40 km/h speed limit, 70 per cent of drivers speed on the road, according to city data, with average speeds between 46 and 51 km/h.
"People drive at the level that they're comfortable driving," said Boakes.
Complete streets are roadways designed to prevent drivers from traveling beyond a target speed.
That can be done by installing speed humps and bollards on roads or by creating tighter roads to give drivers the perception that going too fast would be unsafe.
Boakes said bollards installed as traffic calming measures on certain Windsor roads have been successful at reducing speeds.
Data shows average speeds on roads with bollards dropped by around 8 km/h, she said.
Roundabouts, signal changes and road diets
The plan outlines 42 initiatives the city of Windsor will include as part of Vision Zero after years of input from city staff, police, Essex Windsor EMS, school boards and cyclists.
13 of them are things staff believe can be acted on immediately, including adopting a "Roundabouts First" policy for new intersections.
Roundabouts "virtually eliminate" t-bone style collisions at intersections, according to the report, which have high injury potential.
The road diet is something already happening in Windsor.
Using paint, Eugenie Street was shifted from four lanes into two with a shared middle turning lane. There are also painted bike lanes along the sides of the street.
The plan would change the timing at certain crossing signals to allow pedestrians a head start to cross the street while all lights remained red.
Boakes pointed to the intersection of Tecumseh and McDougall as a likely candidate, to allow students leaving class to safely cross the street.
The full plan is expected to go to council later this year.