Windsor councillor pushes for 40 km/h speed limit on residential streets citywide

Speed limit signs in Windsor, Ont. (Sanjay Maru/CTV News Windsor)

A Windsor councillor wants the city to take another look at lowering speed limits on residential streets to 40 kilometres per hour, arguing the change would make neighbourhoods safer and bring consistency to areas where limits can change from one block to the next.

Ward 8 Coun. Gary Kaschak said speeding is one of the top concerns he hears from residents, including in his own ward, where some residential streets are posted at 40 km/h while others nearby remain at 50 km/h.

“In my ward, the south side of Tecumseh Road, the Fountainbleu area, the Princess, Norman, Buckingham, Lloyd George streets are 40 [km/h]. And then on the north side, Belle Ford, Glendale, Ferndale, and Ford Street are 50 [km/h],” Kaschak said. “A lot of residents ask why we don’t have conformity in the city.”

The issue was presented to council in April 2021, when councillors voted 6-5 to send the 40 km/h proposal to the city’s Vision Zero Policy group instead of approving the change right away.

The issue came back again in January 2024, when council approved Windsor’s Vision Zero strategy.

At that time, councillors voted against a citywide reduction of neighbourhood speed limits, instead giving councillors the ability to pursue 40 km/h limits in select residential neighbourhoods, paired with traffic-calming measures such as speed humps, bump-outs or other infrastructure changes.

Kaschak said he now believes there is more support for the change, both from councillors and residents.

“I think there’s an appetite for it from a public safety standpoint,” he said. “We want people to walk. We want people to ride bicycles. We want people to, you know, to be active and to be mobile.”

The push comes as Windsor continues to work towards its Vision Zero road safety goals, aimed at eliminating deaths and serious injuries on city streets over the long term.

While the broader Vision Zero approach points to 30 km/h in areas where vehicles and pedestrians mix, Kaschak said that would be too drastic for Windsor right now.

I don’t think we’re quite there as the auto city of Ontario, but I think 40 [km/h] is a really good soft spot," he said.

Kaschak said a lower posted limit could also give police more room to enforce speeding in neighbourhoods.

But not everyone is convinced a citywide change would make a meaningful difference on its own.

At the corner of Clemenceau Boulevard and Rose Street, where the posted speed limit is already 40 km/h, longtime resident Wayne Lanoue said speeding remains a daily problem.

“It doesn’t slow the traffic. It doesn’t slow nothing down,” he said. “Nobody wants to drive 40 [km/h] anymore. Nobody.”

Lanoue, said traffic volumes have increased significantly over the years, adding that drivers often pass vehicles, bikes and buses in a dangerous manner.

“If you’re doing 40 [km/h] on this road and someone don’t like it, drivers will pass into the opposite lane to get ahead of them,” he said. “When I sit down on my front porch, I see this every day.”

Another resident, Danny Arcouri, said drivers regularly travel well above the posted 40 km/h limit in his neighbourhood.

“People here drive extremely fast. At least 70 to 80 kilometres an hour,” he said.

Arcouri said the danger became personal this past December, when his parked truck was hit by a speeding driver.

“I had my new truck parked on the road in front of my house. A lady was driving and hit it from the rear at almost 90-kilometres-an-hour speed. The truck was a complete write-off,” said Acouri.

Ontario Safety League President Angelo DiCicco said lowering residential speed limits can significantly reduce the risk of fatal and serious crashes, but warned that a blanket reduction may not be enough to change driver behaviour without other measures.

“At 50 kilometres an hour, the fatality risk is nearly triple that compared to if you’re hit by someone going 40 kilometres an hour,” DiCicco said. “But for someone who doesn’t live in a 40 zone, driving 40 [km/h] is painfully slow,”

According to DiCicco, lower limits should be paired with education, enforcement and physical cues, such as flashing lights, speed bumps or other traffic calming measures.

“Just a written sign isn’t normally enough to change behaviour,” DiCicco added.

Kaschak said he agrees a 40 km/h standard would need to be part of a broader approach, not the entire solution.

“It’s one tool in the toolbox,” Kaschak said, adding he wants to keep costs down if the change moves forward, including by avoiding a full replacement of every affected sign.

“Maybe we just get decals and change the 5 to a 4,” Kaschak said. “We want to make this cost-conducive.”

A report looking at the feasibility of moving to a standard 40 km/h speed limit on all residential streets will be brought back to a future meeting of Windsor city council.