07-19-2017, 08:20 AM
I thought it would be interesting to get a discussion going about traffic calming - what's effective, what we have implemented, what we could try and so on. The impetus is largely the odd occasion of driving through the Doon area, which claims to use traffic-calming, but largely in the form of regular speed bumps. I happen to think this is largely ineffective and actually encourages more dangerous behaviour (heavy acceleration/deceleration) while also being quite disruptive. On the other hand, when my friend lived on Copper Leaf Crescent in Williamsburg, despite no built measures to calm traffic, the heavy use of on-street parking on both sides of the street and large number of people playing outside/walking etc. seemed very effective at slowing down traffic. Willis Way between Caroline and King is another example that seems very effective.
This leads me to feel slightly conflicted as most of the streets I can think of that are "calmed" have heavy use of on-street parking. On-street parking, however, is not great for cyclists who often end up riding in the door-zone. Bike-lanes also result in a wider ROW which should have the effect of traffic speed increasing. I have a few thoughts about what could be done to address this, but am interested in what others would consider best practices, and what others think we can realistically move toward here in Waterloo Region.
This leads me to feel slightly conflicted as most of the streets I can think of that are "calmed" have heavy use of on-street parking. On-street parking, however, is not great for cyclists who often end up riding in the door-zone. Bike-lanes also result in a wider ROW which should have the effect of traffic speed increasing. I have a few thoughts about what could be done to address this, but am interested in what others would consider best practices, and what others think we can realistically move toward here in Waterloo Region.