A wide array of changes are on the way for Guelph roads in the next few years, from the establishment of transit-only lanes and use of more automated enforcement cameras to redesigned roadways and the installation of protective infrastructure.
Meeting Tuesday as the committee of the whole, city council unanimously approved the above and much more as part of the 68-item Vision Zero action plan meant to make travel within the city safer.
“We have the knowledge, expertise and tools to anticipate and prevent all injury-causing collisions. Everyone makes mistakes. Roads should be designed to account for human error and minimize harm,” Nico Koenig, transportation safety specialist for the city, told the committee. “People are vulnerable, collisions may happen, but the impact should never exceed what our fragile human bodies can withstand.”
Though there is no direct cost associated with the action plan itself, city staff explained implementation will be determined by budget approval, including several action items that are already in the works and/or included in the current 2024 to 2027 approved city budget.
According to city staff, 79 per cent of travel in Guelph is done using a personal vehicle, with eight per cent by walking, seven per cent transit, three per cent via school bus, three per cent cycling and one per cent on motorcycles.
That doesn’t align with the breakdown of fatal and serious-injury collisions: 37 per cent personal vehicles, 36 per cent pedestrians, 10 per cent cyclists and 18 per cent for motorcycles.
“The traditional approach to road safety often focuses efforts on making driving safer. Using the safe system approach we need to instead consider how to make transportation safe for all road users,” Koening continued. “The action plan introduces each part of the safe system approach using Guelph data.”
Between 2018 and 2022, there were 1,430 collisions causing injury in Guelph, resulting in $460 million in costs to society, council heard. That economic impact includes things such as repairs, health care costs, lost wages from missed work, reduced productivity and more.
Numerous delegates, as well as some members of council, acknowledged the danger faced by pedestrians and cyclists on Guelph’s roads.
“It’s not a war on cars. It’s about making our streets safer for everyone,” said Andrea Bidgood, chair of the Guelph Coalition for Active Transportation, who referred to the action plan as a “necessary response to a growing crisis.”
Also included in the plan is a potential series of new Community Safety Zones, which come with double the ticket value for anyone caught going above the posted speed limit.
New Community Safety Zone locations, as well as proposed ASE spots, will be presented to council for consideration in July or August. If approved, they are expected to focus largely around elementary schools and community centres.
Beginning Aug. 1, the plan calls for the number of automated speed enforcement cameras in Guelph to triple, from four to 12. The existing four are rotated between school zones every three months; four of the new ones are expected to be moved between other community safety zones every six months, with four installed at yet-undetermined permanent locations.
Other actions in the plan include:
- Implement the Quality Transit Network, including the conversion of general traffic lanes to dedicated transit lanes – three to five years
- Develop a Pedestrian Master Plan to include pedestrian safety within the built environment – three to five years
- Create a city-wide strategy for planning and designing roundabouts – three to five years
- Review the city’s standard operating procedures and warrant criteria for all pedestrian crossings and crossing times at signalized intersections – one to two years
- Use conflict-based road safety analysis to capture near-miss collisions – one to two years
- Administer, evaluate and expand the red light camera program – one to two years
- Prepare a goods movement strategy that aims to reduce the risk to vulnerable road users from heavy and large vehicles – initiated
- Perform an on-site fatal collision site analysis and recommendation report following every fatal collision in Guelph – initiated
- Review pedestrian, cyclist, e-scooter and motorcycle injury data records from the local emergency department to inform design and maintenance of off-road trails and on-road infrastructure intended to prevent future injuries – initiated.
- Buy Guelph Transit buses with collision avoidance systems – initiated.
Following approval by the committee of the whole, city council is expected to consider ratifying that decision during its meeting on March 25.
Discussion of the proposed action plan revealed several other tidbits of information. They include:
- The City of Guelph receives about 68 per cent of each automated speed enforcement (ASE) camera ticket, with the rest going to the vendor and a Toronto-based ticket processing centre. From the received funds, explained Steve Anderson, the city’s manager of transportation engineering, the city pays for court time and other administrative tasks, bringing city revenue closer to 15 per cent.
- ASE cameras are capable of running 24/7, but when asked by Coun. Christine Billings if they’re in operation around the clock, Anderson said he’d “rather not disclose what hours we’re enforcing.”
- Coun. Dominique O’Rourke raised resident concerns about the time it takes to process tickets and send them out, Anderson said that pace has improved in the past six to eight months.
