I am very happy to see the progress being made with the implementation of our Brant Safe Streets program, which includes increased enforcement by our local OPP and other strategies.
We get a lot of calls about trucks traveling through downtown Paris, excess speed and noisy vehicles.
While the OPP have other, life endangering issues to deal with, we do appreciate them giving this attention when possible. Council approved additional OPP expenses to allow for the hiring of two additional officers specifically dedicated to Highway Traffic Act issues. Brant OPP monitors speed along our streets as seen in the photo above, and these other issues are being addressed as well. Below you will see information from two very relevant OPP West Region posts March 31, 2021 and June 25, 2021:
I am always happy to see OPP attention to speeding and other Highway Traffic Act Offences, which unfortunately, seem to be on the rise in the County. Let’s take a look at this data from the County of Brant Police Services Board Report for Brant OPP – Integrated Court Offence Network (March 2022)
The upper chart in the image shows the number of charges laid for Criminal Code and Provincial Statute Violations for March 2021 and March 2022, for the year-to-date up to March 2021 and 2022 (cumulative). The year-over-year changes are also shown as a percent. Highway Traffic Act Charges are further broken down by Offence (Speeding, Seatbelt, Impaired, Distracted) in the lower chart.
While charges in most categories decreased, there was a significant increase in charges under the Highway Traffic Act in 2022 compared to 2021, with the overwhelming majority of charges being for Speeding. Note that charges decreased for both Impaired and Distracted Driving over that same period.
Another Strategy to Address Excessive Speed on our Roads: Speed Humps
The County of Brant has been experimenting with is Speed Humps as part of the Safe Streets Program. Speed Humps have proven effective locally, and we are expanding our testing of this tactic in various spots throughout the County.
Did you know? “Speed bumps are vertical obstructions usually found in parking lots. They are inappropriate for travelled road ways. They have been proven to create rear-end collisions and to cause erratic driving behaviour as the driver tends to accelerate aggressively after clearing the speed bump. Speed humps, which are shorter, longer, and have more gradual inclines and declines, can be effective in low traffic areas.” – from the County of Brant website
Banfield Street in Ward 2 is one of those sites with brand new traffic humps, as I mentioned in an article on page 4 of the April 16, 2021 issue of the Paris Independent
For those who ask “How do we request speed humps on our street?”, please use the form on the Brant Safe Streets website.