Regina’s Cathedral neighbourhood’s speed limit was lowered to 40 kilometres per hour after Regina City Council voted in favour of the new Vision Zero Road Safety Framework.
Vision Zero is a data-driven strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and significant injuries.
From 2015 to 2019, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) data shows 26,254 motor vehicle collisions occurred in Regina. Nineteen of those were fatal, and 134 resulted in a significant injury.
As part of the Vision Zero initiative, the City of Regina is introducing its first-ever Community Safety Zone in the Traffic Bylaw. This zone, located in the Cathedral area, will play a role in implementing the new speed limit and enhancing road safety in the neighbourhood.
The zone was picked due to the high volume of vulnerable road users in the area, mixed with a busy commercial centre with minimal pedestrian protection controls at most intersections, the limited consolidation of pedestrian crossing locations, existing geometric considerations and high on-street parking demand, and the area’s collision history, including two fatal collisions in 2023 alone.
The Traffic Bylaw amendments will reduce the permitted speed within the community safety zone to 40 km/h, down from the current default of 50 km/h.
The framework will also see city administration establish and lead a task force by including representatives from partner agencies. Together, the task force will have opportunities to champion Vision Zero principles within their organizations while collaborating on joint initiatives and campaigns.
Internally, administration will be responsible for developing a traffic data analytics team that collects and analyzes traffic/pedestrian data while incorporating external data sources from stakeholders to provide holistic implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the framework.
First starting in Sweden in 1997, the long-term vision of Vision Zero is that no one should be killed or seriously injured as a result of a collision within the road transport system. This approach acknowledges human error and focuses on system-wide practices, policies, and designs to minimize collision severity.
Similar programs have been implemented in other cities, such as Edmonton and Warsaw.
City administration says a successful implementation will require $1.5 million in annual funding. Estimated costs could be around $7.5 million over the next five years, which have already been approved in the city’s 2024 budget.
