Community Safety and Addressing Speeding

One of the issues that I hear about most frequently in all corners of McNab/Braeside is the increased levels of speeding on our roadways. While speed enforcement is exclusively under the authority of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Township and its Council can play a more active role in promoting road safety on our roadways, especially within our villages and hamlets.

As your Mayor, I would work collaboratively with our Township staff, County of Renfrew, OPP and concerned residents to conduct traffic studies and implement traffic management practices where they make sense.

1. Utilize the Township’s radar sign and County radar signs more effectively to assess speed on roads across the Township with focus on residential areas and those without pedestrian infrastructure. This data can then be passed along to the OPP to assist with targeted enforcement.
2. Investigate traffic management tools that could be used to reduce traffic speeds in built-up areas (like the Villages of Braeside, Sand Point and White Lake). Simple traffic calming tools like narrowed painted lanes, flexible posts in the centre of the roadway, and enhanced village entrance signage could be easily implemented with low costs to increase adherence to speed limits. Additional tools like speed bumps and Community Safety Zones should be assessed and implemented where they make sense and where they are permitted under provincial guidelines.
3. Work collaboratively with the OPP to increase their presence in the Township and focus on areas of resident concern / speed radar data for targeted enforcement. When I was a Township Councillor between 2018 and 2022, I served on the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan steering committee and worked with the OPP to conduct numerous speed enforcement blitzes across the community including River Road, Campbell Drive, Stewartville Road, Burnstown Road and White Lake Road) with public education and fines issued.
4. Investigate the feasibility and cost of a public safety campaign with Township-sponsored speed reduction lawn signs on private lawns and other communications tools. Interested residents could pick up a lawn sign for their own lawn (with donation options to cover its cost) and they would compliment new Township entrance signage for our villages and hamlets.