Ten kilometres per hour may be how much slower motorists will drive on residential Westlock streets if council adopts a new traffic bylaw.
The town is in the midst of determining whether it will go ahead with plans to reduce speed limits from 50 km/h to 40 km/h on all residential streets and change all school zones to playground zones.
While 10 km/h may not seem like very much, it can be the difference between life and death. According to the World Health Organization a car travelling at 50 km/h typically requires 14 metres to stop, while one travelling at 40 km/h needs about 8.5 metres, which is almost half the distance.
Meanwhile, a pedestrian that gets struck by a vehicle at 50 km/h has about a 45 per cent survival rate, while one hit at 40 km/h stands about a 75 per cent chance of survival.
It’s a dramatic reduction.
Let’s remember though that this speed reduction only applies to residential streets in town, so speed limits on the highways and non-residential areas won’t change.
Worried about your commute? Geographically, Westlock is so small that a trip across town is still only going to take five minutes, no matter if you’re travelling at 50 km/h or 40 km/h.
And changing school zones to playground zones, which makes the zones 30 km/h from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset seven days a week, just makes sense.
Often enough school zone times aren’t even posted and kids are often running around those areas.
Enforcing the speed limit is also important in the change because if it’s not enforced, what’s the point?
Ultimately this change shouldn’t just be a cash grab and an excuse for local law enforcement to write some tickets.
There hasn’t been a rash of recent car-related deaths or injuries to provoke a speed decrease, but we don’t need to wait on a tragedy to be proactive in the name of public safety.
Ultimately if this proposed speed reduction helps to save just one life it will prove its worth.
