Slow down! 4 Winnipeg neighbourhoods will see reduced speeds starting this weekend

Pump those brakes, Winnipeg. As of Saturday, three city neighbourhoods will have speed limits below 50 kilometres per hour as part of a long-awaited pilot project.

Crews will begin to change speed limit signage to 30 km/h in Bourkevale and Tyndall Park and 40 km/h in Richmond West starting on Saturday and Sunday, the City of Winnipeg said in a news release on Friday. Crews will change the signage in the Worthington neighbourhood to 40 km/h the following weekend.

The changes are coming after the City of Winnipeg's public works committee passed a bylaw amendment on Jan. 26.  Signs advising of the impending speed limit change were posted in each neighbourhood in mid-February, and residents were also informed by mail, the city said.

This is welcome news for Ian Walker, the chair of Safe Speeds Winnipeg, a teacher and parent to two sons.

"I think that it's a good thing that they're testing it out in some neighbourhoods.… It's a good opportunity to continue educating the public on the benefits of reduced speed limits on residential streets," he said in an interview on Tuesday.

Walker says vehicles that go slower have a better chance of avoiding a collision with another vehicle or person.

"Going a slower speed, your vehicle doesn't require as much distance to stop. It also allows a driver more time to think about stopping. So if a child, for example, runs out into the road, it takes a certain amount of time for your brain to register that child and for your foot to then hit the brake," he said.

Walker also believes slower speed limits will reduce traffic congestion in those neighbourhoods because he knows lots of parents who don't want their children walking or biking to school because of high-speed vehicles.

"Allowing kids to walk or ride their bikes to school will reduce the number of cars using our roads and make everyone safer. And frankly, it'll speed things up," he said.

North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty doesn't agree with the changes and thinks they're largely unnecessary.

"The reality is, the majority of incidents on our roads where people do get injured actually aren't on those local streets that we're talking about taking to speed limits 30," he said in an interview on CBC Manitoba's Information Radio on Friday.

"They're actually, in fact, on those major collector streets like the Hendersons, the Pembina Highways, Main Street, Portage Avenue where speed limits are higher."

He thinks drivers need to be responsible and 98 per cent of Winnipeggers are.

Drivers who aren't responsible should be penalized by police, Browaty said.

Walker believes lower speeds will mean more than just safer streets for pedestrians.

He thinks those four neighbourhoods will see increased livability because the noise pollution will drop.

"Making our neighbourhoods places that are quiet, places where we can sit in our front yards and visit with friends and family is a big plus to any neighborhood in the city. People want to be able to interact in their communities and traffic creates a significant amount of urban noise pollution," he said.

The pilot project will last for one year. A final report on the project is expected to go to council in fall of 2024.

More than two dozen other stretches of road could also see speed limits reduced to 30 km/h this spring, after a proposal was unveiled earlier this week to make streets safer for cyclists.

That proposal is slated for a vote at the March 7 meeting of the public works committee. If it passes, it will need final approval by city council.