As part of our commitment to making streets accessible and safe for all, the City uses a variety of traffic calming measures to reduce dangerous driving and allow residents to enjoy their neighbourhoods.
What is traffic calming
Traffic calming measures modify driver behaviour to enhance safety within residential areas. The City uses various traffic calming measures and initiatives to help slow traffic, reduce collisions, and improve pedestrian and cyclist safety and comfort.
Traffic calming measures
Residents can request traffic calming measures to help slow down traffic in their neighbourhoods. It's important to understand their differences before making those requests.
Vertical measures
Physical features that bump vehicles up and down, making drivers slow down to pass over them comfortably. Eg. Speed bumps, raised intersections, and raised crosswalks.
Horizontal measures
Features that make the road curve or narrow, causing drivers to slow down so they can steer safely. Eg. Mini roundabouts, curb extensions, and s-shaped curves.
Passive measures
Simple visual cues that remind drivers to slow down without changing the road surface. Eg. Street and lawn signs, painted markings, and speed display boards.
Traffic calming requests
When you are ready to make your request, you will need to download and fill out the form, noting that you will need at least 10 signatures from residents of the specified street.
The City will investigate the request as per our guidelines and determine if traffic calming measures will be implemented. This process doesn't always result in the installation of a traffic calming measure. Our project planning and city engineers will take a look at the request and conduct a thorough investigation. This involves collecting data about the street classification, length of the street, traffic volume, speeding percentiles, and past evaluations of the street. Your safety is our top priority, and it is important to be thorough in our evaluation, as implementing an unwarranted measure can actually reduce safety.
Residents can also request a Respect the Limit lawn sign to raise awareness about the dangers of driving too fast. Lawn signs are available at City Hall (300 Dufferin Ave.) on the main floor for residents to pick up.
In addition to these measures, the City launched a new area speed limits program, which aims to make our streets safer for all road users by lowering speed limits on roads with high pedestrian and cycling usage.