CURRIER: Reducing the speed limit on Wellington, beneficial or not?

3 hours ago

Winnipeg Sun

Published Nov 23, 2024 • Last updated 19 hours ago • 2 minute read

The request to lower the speed limit on Wellington from 50 km to 30 is gaining strength and support, but is it necessary? Photo by Gavin Young /Postmedia

To fix a problem, you first need to clearly identify what the problem is. In the case of reducing the speed limit on Wellington Crescent, City Hall is misidentifying the issue and its solution.

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The request to lower the speed limit on Wellington from 50 km per hour to 30 — from River to Academy — is gaining strength and support. It’s easy to understand why some believe this change is needed. Cyclist Rob Jenner was struck and killed on that stretch earlier this year. A life was needlessly ended, a family was devastated, and their lives will never be the same.

Our city’s cyclists deserve to be protected and should arrive at their destinations safely, as do motorists. In recent years our city has spent unprecedented amounts of money on bike paths and dedicated bike lanes. Whether those lanes are used enough to be worth the money invested, or the disruption to businesses and traffic, is open to debate.

In the case of Rob Jenner’s death, the speed limit on Wellington was not the cause of his death. It didn’t make travelling on a bicycle unsafe. The problem was that the driver who killed Mr. Jenner was travelling at 150 km per hour.

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We are impelled to buy into the fact that if the speed limit had been reduced, the driver would have respected that speed limit.

Those pushing for the reduction rightly point out the incidents of speeding along the stretch where Mr. Jenner was struck in June, but they deny that those same speeders are no more likely to observe a 30 km speed limit than the current 50 km.

If someone is prepared to drive 150 km per hour in a 50 km zone, we can’t expect that they’ll slow down to 30 if we change the sign.

One theory is that if that stretch becomes a 30 km zone, some drivers will use alternate routes. Another pleasant but naive notion since the issues isn’t volume, but the speed of the traffic.

Enforcement may be our best option to prevent more tragedies. However, even if one per cent of the population refuses to obey a law, it becomes unenforceable. There aren’t enough police officers on our streets to catch all of the people who refuse to obey current speed limits.

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Our city has a habit of embracing solutions without clearly identifying the problem. The so-called calming circles installed in some neighbourhoods, for example, were put in place without any metrics proving that they were needed or that they would enhance safety. An expensive solution to a nonexistent problem.

Before City Council rushes to reduce the speed limit on Wellington Crescent, or any other road in Winnipeg, can we be provided with evidence that those changes would be beneficial?

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