Many streets in Cabbagetown could see a reduction in speed limits soon. On April 14, Toronto and East York Community Council voted, pending public approval, to reduce speed limits on most residential streets within its boundaries from 40 km/h to 30 km/h. Cabbagetown lies within these boundaries and would therefore be affected by this decision.
Unless there is significant public opposition over the next couple of months, the decision is expected to be finalized in June. Toronto City Council could potentially overrule a Community Council decision but usually, this kind of issue is left to the community council. Once a final decision is made, thousands of signs would then need to be replaced so it will take some time to be fully implemented.
For more information on the decision and next steps, this article seems to cover it well:
Community council moves to lower speed limits on East York, old Toronto streets – thestar.com
4 replies on “Reduced Speed Limits Coming To Cabbagetown?”
Completely unnecessary. We already have speed humps.
I’ll have to disagree with you on that one. Many streets don’t have speed humps and many people believe that the humps are actually dangerous because some drivers veer to one side to minimize the “impact” (which means they’re driving closer to the sidewalks making it more dangerous especially for kids and pets who might dart out in front). On my street, we took a poll a few months ago and 100% of the people on the street wanted the limit reduced from 40 km/h to 30 km/h. I’m not sure drivers are actually going to slow to 30 km/h, but perhaps they’ll reduce their speed by a corresponding percentage.
Streets are designed for all users: vehicles, cyclist, pedistrians and animals. We all need to learn to share the space equitably. Unfortunately there are too many motorist who use Cabbagetown Streets to bypass artial roads and even though we have speed bumps, some travel at excessive speeds, do not stop fully at intersections and drive the wrong way on one way streets. As very few households in the neighbourhood have private drives or garages, parked cars line the streets creating many blind spots for drivers and pedestrians.
One of the unique characteristics of Cabbagetown is the density of housing which limits private yard space. With close proximity to retail shopping and public parks, the streets are busy with pedestrians.
Cabbagetowners do not rely on vehicles as we have options. Don’t allow the car to rule our streets. Rob Ford and his advocacy for the rights of drivers is yesterdays news!
I definitely agree that we’ve all got to share the roads and be respectful of each other regardless of transportation mode.