Walkability and traffic calming
A pedestrian hit at 30 km/h has a 90% chance of surviving; at 50 km/h, survival becomes a lucky exception. An even bigger benefit of the lower speed: most accidents can be prevented. Thirty should be the default in residential neighbourhoods. Paris did it city-wide in 2021. It works. It is the cheapest change a city can make.
Where I stand
In Saint John, school zones command 30 km/h to protect children, yet throughout the city the default is 50 km/h, even on residential streets with speed cushions that you can only drive over at 20. The logic is backwards. We already accept 30 in school zones. Extending it to the streets those kids actually live on is the natural conclusion. And residents on those streets are asking for it. I’ve heard countless times at the doors that people don’t want drivers cutting through their neighbourhoods at high speed, and demand speed bumps, especially on streets that are close to schools, where kids walk home.
The physics are brutally simple. Braking distance and kinetic energy more than double at 50. The chance of hitting a pedestrian increases, and the survival rate drops from 90% to 20%. Worse for larger cars and smaller pedestrians.
Sharing the road with bikes becomes safer too. At 30, the difference in speed is smaller, drivers have more time to notice cyclists, and cyclists have an easier time merging for a left turn.
Paris made this change city-wide in 2021. Five years later, even the people who argued against it admit it works. The physics is the same here as it is in Paris. Smaller cities and towns have an even easier time implementing the change, because distances travelled in residential neighbourhoods are smaller, people get to arterials quickly, and spend most of their commute there.
The quality of our roads already demands lower speeds. No one wants to swerve around potholes at 50 while also trying to pay attention to pedestrians waiting in intersections. Introducing the speed limits is the cheapest change the city can make. Signs and paint. No speed bumps, no new asset to maintain. It is the most efficient public-safety dollar the city has. The hardest part is convincing council to do it. I will. I am committed to pushing for 30 km/h on neighbourhood streets in Uptown first. Other neighbourhoods can opt in as residents ask.
Beyond speed limits, the rest of the walkability stack is well known and underused: raised crosswalks near schools, sidewalks that connect homes to classrooms, school streets closed to cars at start and end of school (already working in Ottawa and Montreal), parking enforcement at corners that hide pedestrians, and getting rid of beg buttons that make pedestrians ask permission to cross.
What I will push for on council
- 30 km/h on neighbourhood streets, starting in Uptown, then extending where neighbourhoods ask.
- Raised crosswalks near schools.
- School streets closed to cars at drop-off and pickup, on the Ottawa and Montreal model.
- Sidewalks that actually connect homes to classrooms, with winter maintenance.
- Get rid of beg buttons. Pedestrians should not have to ask permission to cross.
- Enforce parking fines at corners and crossings where parked cars hide people from drivers.
- Curb extensions, raised intersections, modern traffic-calming standards on every redesign.
- Raise awareness of unmarked crosswalks (every intersection in NB is a legal crosswalk).
- A community crossing-guard program: train and support residents who want to step up for the kids on their own street. Civic engagement that pays back as public safety.