Residents can now weigh in on the proposed speed limit cut. Before they do, BorderPulse is sharing information on speed and safety that wasn’t part of the city’s presentation.
Lloydminster residents can now submit feedback on the city’s proposed Traffic Bylaw rewrite, including a plan to lower the default residential speed limit from 50 to 40 km/h, through an online survey the city has opened as part of its public engagement process. The full draft bylaw is available to read at the bottom of this story.
Administration told council this week it does not have local collision data to support the proposed speed reduction. Ahead of the survey, BorderPulse is sharing independent research on speed and pedestrian safety so residents have that information before weighing in.
In a Facebook post, the City of Lloydminster said the bylaw covers “parking, speed limits, road closures, traffic control and more,” and invited residents to weigh in on residential speed limits, RV parking, cul-de-sac parking, fines and penalties, and e-scooter and e-bike regulations. The city is directing feedback to yourvoicelloyd.ca/TrafficBylaw, with a deadline of Sept. 14.
The traffic survey follows a presentation to the Governance and Priorities Committee Monday, where administration confirmed the proposed speed reduction is not supported by local collision data.
Andrew DeGruchy, the city’s director of public safety, told council the case for the change rests on driver speed data and resident complaints, not crash statistics.
“We have a lot of data showcasing what current average speeds are. A number of motorists are travelling between 40 and 55 kilometres an hour,” said DeGruchy. “We don’t have a lot of accident data warranting a reduction to 40 kilometres an hour, but we do have a number of community complaints and concerns coming to us.”
Coun. Jim Taylor asked administration for firmer numbers to bring back to residents.
“I just need a little bit more of the kind of data evidence when people are asking. It just helps me sell it a little bit more to the community,” said Taylor.
The research below was not presented by the city and is not part of the official record. It is intended as added context for residents weighing in on the traffic bylaw through the survey.
A 2020 study published in the journal BMC Public Health, which tracked pedestrian collisions on Toronto streets before and after a reduction from 40 to 30 km/h, found collision rates dropped 28 per cent on the affected streets, with major and fatal injuries falling 67 per cent. Comparable streets that stayed at 40 km/h saw no significant change.
A separate literature review covering dozens of studies found the odds of a pedestrian dying after being hit by a vehicle rise by roughly 11 per cent for every 1 km/h above 30 km/h. The same body of research puts survival odds at roughly 90 per cent at 30 km/h, falling to about 50 per cent in the 40 to 45 km/h range, and below 20 per cent at 50 km/h.
Alberta already has a comparable case study. Calgary moved from an unposted 50 km/h default to a standardized 40 km/h limit on residential and collector roads in May 2021, the same change Lloydminster is now considering.
The research also points to a modest cost in travel time. Covering five kilometres, roughly a cross-town Lloydminster trip, takes about six minutes at 50 km/h, compared to seven and a half minutes at 40 km/h and 10 minutes at 30 km/h, assuming no stops or intersections. The difference between 50 and 40 km/h works out to about a minute and a half over that distance.
The draft traffic bylaw would keep school and playground zones at 30 km/h, while a separate map identifies roadways that would remain at 50 km/h or higher to keep major routes moving. That map has not yet been made public.
The change would also add to the workload of a municipal enforcement team already handling downtown and trailer parking, fire lane violations, cul-de-sac angle parking and a growing volume of unsightly premises complaints.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s coming up that we’re going to be asking them to do,” said Taylor.
Coun. David Lopez raised a separate concern about a draft provision restricting parking within 1.5 metres of a driveway, saying newer neighbourhoods often lack room for visitor parking as a result.
“With the CPOs that we have, are we going to be restricting parking to angle parking, to the cul-de-sacs, to fire hydrants, to the noise? Eventually we’re making so many bylaws we can’t enforce them all,” said Lopez.
DeGruchy said the city would review how to tighten the driveway parking rule to better accommodate street parking.
Coun. Michele Charles Gustafson said she supports the reduction as a way to widen the gap between legal and illegal driving speeds.
“I think it eases the ability to enforce from bylaw and everyone else,” said Charles Gustafson.
Residents have until Sept. 14 to submit feedback at yourvoicelloyd.ca/TrafficBylaw. The engagement period also includes a static display at this week’s Wheels at Work event and targeted consultation with the industrial sector on truck route changes. No date has been set for a final council vote.
Read the full proposed Traffic Bylaw draft below:
Read more: Gallery – High-speed collision in downtown Lloydminster
I would have liked to see 30 km in subdivisions. Far too many idiots on the roads these days that don’t give a rat’s behind. Loud mufflers , jacked up trucks . Not sure why some of them are even allowed a license plate. Being an oil town does not mean they can act like idiots. The denser the population gets , the more chances of accidents.
Need to have drivers come to a full stop at stop signs
40 k on all residential streets would be nice to get up to 50 k in a residential block seems worthless t slo for the next yield so stop sign.
Whoever is on this committee should look into the provincial laws on e-scooters they are illegal on all public roads and sidewalks.
They covered this, in Alberta, illegal everywhere, not the same in Sask. which, is part of the problem.