Traffic Calming Information
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See the City's Traffic Calming Policy for a full listing of possible traffic calming measures.
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ALSO IN THIS SECTION
Learn the difference between speed humps and speed bumps.
Curb extensions help reduce vehicle speeds while improving pedestrian visibility.
Research suggests 'all-way' stop signs have limited use as a traffic calming measure.
Creating a community safety zone takes more than just signs.
Enforcement is required to backstop efforts to reduce speeds in school zones.
RELATED LINKS
Find out how the new pedestrian countdown devices work.
The City of Kingston has installed Courtesy Crossing for pedestrians on Rideau Street at Raglan Road.
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The City of Kingston receives numerous complaints every year regarding traffic on residential roadways. The majority of complaints are related to speeding, aggressive motorist behaviour and neighbourhood shortcutting. Residents are becoming increasingly frustrated with this type of behaviour and are insistent that the City take action to improve the quality of life and level of safety on their streets.
The definition of traffic calming as defined by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is as follows:
"Traffic calming is the combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behaviour and improve conditions for non-motorized streets."
The Canadian Guide to Neighbourhood Traffic Calming states that on local and collector streets, traffic calming is intended to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
- Reduce vehicular speed
- Discourage through traffic
- Minimize conflicts between street users
- Improve the neighbourhood environment
Some of the measures currently being used in Canada to calm traffic are curb extensions, speed humps, mini-circles, raised intersections, raised crosswalks, chicanes and partial/complete street closures.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Community involvement is critical to the success of any traffic calming project. The Canadian Guide to Neighbourhood Traffic Calming states that:
"Traffic calming plans should be developed in consultation with the community. In some cases, "solutions" to traffic problems have been developed without sufficient input from the community, and as a result have generated opposition which ultimately prevented the solutions from being implemented, or resulted in the solutions being removed. In many cases, opposition arose not because the solutions were ineffective but because they were not what the community wanted."
For the reasons outlined above, the City of Kingston's Engineering Division believes that public meetings, public open houses and neighbourhood surveys are an important component of any neighbourhood traffic calming study.
"The public meeting has the advantage of allowing interaction among participants; this clarifies the existence and extent of traffic problems that need to be addressed and the willingness to accept traffic calming measures; the open house has the advantage of allowing individual residents and business people to comment on the impacts that proposed traffic calming measures would have on their property."
(Source: City of Fredericton)
As traffic calming measures may have a significant impact on a street, it is prudent to survey the affected residents and obtain a high level of acceptance.
