If we can't have speed cameras, Ottawa needs narrower streets | Opinion

In what is perhaps the least surprising news of the millennium, residents have noticed people driving faster since speed cameras were removed.

Ontario must be the only jurisdiction in the world that is deliberately taking concrete steps to make roads less safe. And for some reason, voters are OK with that. I know because they’re not screaming blue murder. What are they waiting for, people getting killed?

I’m screaming, and it’s time to fight back. Premier Doug Ford will have to answer for the injuries and deaths that will result from this irresponsible return to speeding on our streets.

On King Edward Avenue, which is problematic for many reasons — including the fact that it’s used by giant trucks as an interprovincial thoroughfare between Highway 5 in Quebec and the 417 on the Ontario side — residents told the CBC that drivers started speeding as soon as it was announced that cameras would be removed. Like we couldn’t see this coming from a mile!

There are no reasons to remove speeding cameras except to tell drivers to go ahead and speed. And drivers are getting the message, loud and clear. So, what do those of us who insist Ottawa should move towards safer roads do while the rest of the province seems content to keep voting for the guy who thinks bikes and pedestrians are just in the way of dudes speeding to work in their pickup trucks?

Some folks are planning “speed camera parties” along King Edward to boo speeders, and while I appreciate the spunk, I can’t imagine this having any impact given how unaware of their surroundings most people are when they’re driving over the speed limit in urban areas.

Personally, I’d want to dismantle the constitutional order and get rid of provinces so that cities could finally have the powers they need to arrange their affairs for the benefit of their residents. Provinces were created back when most of the new country’s population was rural. They’re nowhere near as useful now that 80 percent of us live in urban centres. Whether my city should have protected bike lanes and safe streets should not be up to politicians who don’t live in it.

You’re right. That might take a little while to implement, even if everyone agrees it’s the right idea. What we need, urgently, is to make streets feel unsafe for speeding.

The reason most people speed is because our roads are engineered to be big, wide, and straight. They’re designed to feel safe to drive, and that’s the problem. On most streets, going the speed limit feels like crawling.

In fact, if you were to look at where speed cameras used to be, you’d find roads that are so big and wide that speeding comes naturally. Better than putting back speed cameras would be to design streets to be narrower, with features that make speeding feel unsafe.

We don’t need to rip up everything and rebuild from scratch. We can accomplish small miracles with curb extensions (also known as “bulb outs”) and roundabouts. Some cities have been experimenting with roundabouts made of highly visible plastic or recycled rubber materials, a very nimble and inexpensive way to test where those features bring the best results as far as controlling speed and making streets safer for everyone.

Similarly, for curb extensions, you can experiment with temporary structures to see where narrowing a street has the biggest impact for safety. And then use bulb outs for added vegetation or e-scooter parking or public art or what have you. Of course, we keep big arterial roads free of speed bumps so that police cars and emergency vehicles can quickly get to where they need to be.

Our premier is making dangerous and stupid decisions. We need to fight back with smart design and take our safety into our own hands because we sure can’t trust him with it.

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