Calgarians may get a vote on whether the city lowers speed limits on residential roads

Calgarians may have a say on whether the city reduces the speed limit on residential streets, through a plebiscite.

There is a proposal to reduce the current residential limit from 50 kilometres an hour to 40 as a way of improving safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

Council decided Tuesday in an 8-6 vote to put off a decision on lowering the speed limit. Instead, it will ask administration to come up with potential plebiscite questions on the issue.

Most of council seems to support the idea of lowering the speed limit from 50 to 40 km/h on residential streets as a way of reducing the number of collisions, deaths and injuries. Council members say it's a response to the concerns of Calgarians about speeding on side streets.

Coun. Peter Demong, who put forward the idea of a plebiscite, said changing the speed limits is something that would affect every Calgarian, so they should decide.

"Let's ask the people," Demong said. "Councillor [Jeff] Davison was absolutely correct in his statement for saying [that] for this actually to work, we need to have buy-in from Calgarians or it could make things very difficult for the next couple or three years."

The city has posted online maps of the streets that would be affected by the lower speed limit. 

The proposal recommended a posted speed limit of 50 km/h on busy collector streets — those that typically have a yellow line or a bus route. Officials said it would cost $2.3 million to post new 50 km/h signs on collector streets as well as signage about the default speed limit on all roads entering Calgary.

The money would come from the city's approved capital budget.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said council was elected to make decisions and should just vote on the matter, adding that the decision to ask for proposals does not commit the city to holding a plebiscite.

"We'll see what happens in February, so it's a matter of delayed gratification here," Nenshi said. "Do a little more work and then council will decide in February, either not to do anything, to go forward with these recommendations or amended ones or to push the thing past the next election through a plebiscite."

The proposal was that if council approved the lower speed limit Tuesday, it would take effect next April. Nenshi said a vote in February to proceed would delay that by a couple of months.