Councillor Downer called a point of order, noting that Councillor Goller's questions on procuring Canadian vendors may not be in order. Chair O'Rourke ruled in favour…

4:08:54nico conic transportation safety specialist Steve Anderson manager of transportation engineering

4:09:00and terry gayman our general manager engineering and transportation services whenever you're ready

4:09:25mr gayman okay thank you so much so good afternoon chair rick mere guthrie members of council i'm

4:09:31terry gayman the city's general manager of engineering transportation services and city

4:09:34engineer and so in january 2022 as part of council's approval of the gulf transportation master plan

4:09:41wealth became a vision zero city vision zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities

4:09:48and severe injuries while increasing safe healthy and equitable mobility for all we are here today to

4:09:55present wealth's first vision zero action plan in this presentation we're going to provide you an

4:10:00overview of the action plan as well as some background information to advance two of the vision

4:10:05zero specific actions the expansion of our community safety zones and the automated speed

4:10:10enforcement camera program you'll hear from road safety staff experts who are dedicated to improving

4:10:16wealth transportation system and i'd like to thank them for delivering such a high quality plan

4:10:21for this community as you'll have noticed the plan is leading edge in terms of data analysis and

4:10:26insights the data tells a story of how to gain the best return on investment for road safety and

4:10:32the story is quite compelling vision zero is part of wealth's plan in 2022 through the council

4:10:41approval of the transportation master plan council approved adoption of a vision zero policy vision

4:10:47zero is also prioritized in our strategic plan and in gulf's community plan and since council's

4:10:52approval staff have worked to create a road safety team and the vision zero wealth action plan for

4:10:57safe streets which is attached as attachment one to the committee report the action plan was developed

4:11:03by the vision zero team with the transport within the transportation engineering department

4:11:07with support from multiple departments across this organization as well as from our vision zero

4:11:12steering committee made up of representatives from the city of guelph wellington deffern gulf

4:11:17public health the ministry of transportation and gulf police services with members providing

4:11:22messages of support which are written at the beginning of the action plan our presentation

4:11:26today focuses on highlights focuses on highlights from the 68 action plans with actions within the

4:11:32plan later you'll hear from steve anderson the city's manager of transportation engineering

4:11:37and we're also joined by our road safety supervisor dr lares freedman but first i'd like to

4:11:43introduce guelph's transportation specialist nico conan to present the action plan to you

4:11:48before we turn it over nico i'd also just like to recognize that there's members from the vision

4:11:52zero committee in the gallery with us today so with that we're over to you nico good afternoon

4:12:07i'm nico conan the transportation safety specialist we'll now draw your attention to the

4:12:12action plan itself the action plan offers an introduction to vision zero and its related

4:12:17safe system approach an overview of local collision and public health findings and a

4:12:23list of 68 cross departmental actions that the city of guelph will take to meet its commitment on

4:12:28reaching um zero serious injuries and fatalities on its roads here is a brief overview of each

4:12:35of these parts vision zero is introduced on page 14 of the action plan it is guided by the following

4:12:43principles no loss of life is acceptable on our roads protecting people must take priority

4:12:50over all other aspects of our transportation system deaths and serious injuries are preventable

4:12:56we have the knowledge expertise and tools to anticipate and prevent all injury causing collisions

4:13:03everyone makes mistakes roads should be designed to account for human error and minimize harm

4:13:11people are vulnerable collisions may happen but the impact should never exceed what our fragile

4:13:17human bodies can withstand vision zero is guided by what is called the safe system approach which

4:13:23directs our attention towards a new way of understanding and addressing road safety for

4:13:28example the traditional approach to road safety often focuses efforts on making driving safer

4:13:34using the safe system approach we need to instead consider how to make transportation

4:13:39safe for all road users the action plan introduces each part of the safe system approach using

4:13:48guelph data on pages 17 to page 38 here are some key findings between 2018 and 2022 the number of

4:13:59reported collisions in guelph was 9392 in the same period there were 1430 collisions causing

4:14:09injury in guelph resulting in 460 million dollars in cost to society these costs include

4:14:17health care mixed work vehicle damage and time in pollution due to traffic delay the total

4:14:24number of people killed and seriously injured due to these collisions was 101 of which 83

4:14:32occurred on just 10 percent of guelph's roads between 2002 and 2022 all injuries and fatalities

4:14:41due to collisions have decreased for drivers and passengers but have not shown the same reduction

4:14:46for other road users as you can see in the slide while only 12 percent of guelph's residents walk

4:14:54bike or use motorcycles for the daily commute those who travel using these modes account for 63

4:15:00percent of all serious injuries and deaths that occurred between 2018 and 2022 most of these

4:15:07collision related injuries occurred on arterial roads and finally 72 percent of all collisions

4:15:14in guelph in the same five-year period happened at intersections as did most collisions involving

4:15:20people who are walking biking or using a motorcycle the action plan contains a total of 68 cross

4:15:29departmental actions which are organized into the following eight focus areas plan better ways to

4:15:36grow identify risk protect vulnerable people design safe streets reduce speeds be data driven

4:15:49work together and finally learn together beginning on page 46 each focus area begins with an

4:15:58aspirational description and includes a few featured actions and relevant made in guelph

4:16:03solutions a full list of 68 actions along with timelines and deliverables for each are included

4:16:10in appendix section of attachment one starting on page 58 one focus area is to identify risk

4:16:20let us briefly discuss how we plan to do this documenting and addressing the risk of collisions

4:16:27causing serious injuries and fatalities is essential for the success of guelph's action plan

4:16:33to meet this direction the city of guelph created a new way to evaluate our roads called the high

4:16:39risk network introduced on page 48 of the action plan and featured separately as attachment to

4:16:47well high-risk network is the first municipal led map of its kind in canada every kilometer of

4:16:54well 600 kilometer street network was evaluated evaluated using known risk factors that increase

4:17:00the frequency and severity of collisions causing serious injuries and deaths a high risk network

4:17:07helps us prioritize our actions in ways that maximize impact and it helps guide 10 of our

4:17:1468 vision zero actions as a preliminary data set it is intended to evolve over time as more data

4:17:21becomes available and our efforts become show results staff also created a public survey to

4:17:31inform appropriate vision zero actions and future communication strategy in total 1021 survey

4:17:39responses were collected a summary of the survey results are included in attachment for the engagement

4:17:47report to vision zero actions the the action to expand community safety zones beyond school zones

4:17:56and to administer evaluate and expand the automated speed enforcement camera program are tied to

4:18:03recommendations number two and number three put forth to you today here is the background regarding

4:18:10the development of community safety zones and automated speed enforcement in guelph also known as

4:18:15as e highway traffic act permits a council of a municipality by bylaw to designate part of a highway

4:18:24under its jurisdiction as a community safety zone if in the council's opinion public safety is a

4:18:32special concern automated speed enforcement programs are allowed in community safety zones

4:18:38and fines associated with the highway traffic act violations are doubled in these zones

4:18:42in 2022 in preparation for future ase programs guelph city council revised the traffic bylaw to

4:18:50include 57 community safety zone designations overlaying every elementary school zone 46 are with

4:18:59school zones with speed limits of 30 kilometers per hour and 11 are in school zones with flashing

4:19:04signage of 40 kilometers per hour in august 2023 the ase camera program began operating in four

4:19:12community safety zone locations staff have determined that the presence of ase cameras

4:19:18encouraged a positive change in driver behavior resulting in an average speed reduction of 20

4:19:24percent or nine kilometers per hour while the city of guelph has directed the use of community

4:19:31safety zone designations to encompass school zones there's no policy that identifies where public

4:19:37safety is of special concern outside of these areas collision related serious injuries and

4:19:43fatalities due to vehicles are consistently found outside of school zones based on the collision

4:19:51analysis detailed in attachment one the majority of these collisions occurred on roads with high

4:19:56vehicle volumes and high vehicle speeds both proven risk factors which increase the likelihood

4:20:03of collision related injuries and fatalities in response to these issues

4:20:11staff developed a community safety zone policy seen here as attachment three to identify criteria

4:20:19to establish community safety zones outside of school zones and prioritizing roads with high risk

4:20:26of collision related serious injuries and fatalities in doing so the city of guelph will

4:20:32be one of the first few municipalities in ontario to expand community safety zone designations

4:20:37outside of school zones guelph's community safety zone policy establishes the following criteria

4:20:45a community safety zone designation is recommended for all primary and secondary schools all educational

4:20:52institutions and all major healthcare centers and hospitals high risk roads according to the

4:20:59high risk network that are near to a community facility such as a community center will now

4:21:05be reviewed for potential community safety zone designation the impact of the community safety

4:21:11zone policy will be closely monitored and reviewed every five years good afternoon everyone i'm

4:21:27steve anderson and i'll take the presentation home from here there are 12 existing school zones

4:21:34with flashing 40 kilometer an hour speed limits in effect during school arrival and dismissal time

4:21:40province of ontario does not permit automated speed enforcement operation within these flashing

4:21:4540 kilometer an hour zones as these school zones around arterial roadways which are proven to have

4:21:51higher risk staff propose to convert all flashing 40 kilometer an hour zones to static 24 hours a

4:21:58day seven days a week 40 kilometer an hour speed zones once approved by mayor and council all 40

4:22:05kilometer an hour school zones will be converted to static 40 kilometer an hour school zones during

4:22:11july and august 2025 while school is out we will then give one full year to allow for driver behavior

4:22:19changes before any of these zones will have an automated speed enforcement camera implemented

4:22:26these zones will therefore be eligible for an automated camera beginning the 2026 2027 school

4:22:33year the expansion to 12 cameras was noted in the 2023 budget approval and operationalized as a

4:22:44base budget item during the 2025 budget the asc program is expanding from our four cameras to

4:22:5112 cameras beginning august 1st 2025 the measures of effectiveness of our automated programs is clear

4:23:00although today we're talking specifically about asc it's worth noting we're seeing a 10 times

4:23:07societal return on our investment that's 40 million dollars in societal cost savings

4:23:13from our red light camera program through just the first three years of operation with our asc

4:23:20program we are seeing a decrease in operating speeds in our school zone and that reduction

4:23:25remains even after the camera leaves studies 60 days after the removal of the camera still finds a

4:23:3314 percent reduction in speeds from before the camera began operating in 2025 our daily operating

4:23:43rates to the vendor have decreased in q3 2025 the court system will be switching from the POA system

4:23:51to the administrative penalty system and that will be beneficial by making court costs more

4:23:56efficient these two factors project to see an increase in funds coming back to the city of

4:24:02gulf to benefit funding for future road safety work currently the city operates four mobile

4:24:10asc cameras that rotate through existing school zones every three months by the end of the 2024

4:24:172025 school year so that's right now an asc camera will be placed in each elementary school

4:24:24zone where it is feasible to do so for the 2025 2025 or 2026 school year the 12 asc cameras will

4:24:34continue to rotate through elementary school zones on non-arterial roads either on a four or six month

4:24:41rotation in august 2026 locations that have a new community safety zone or had a flashing 40 kilometer

4:24:51an hour speed limit replaced with a 24 740 k speed limit will be eligible for asc staff will use a

4:24:59combination of mobile semi permanent and permanent cameras our asc program will focus on roadways

4:25:07with combinations of high operating speeds high injury collision history and likelihood of continued

4:25:14high injury related collisions and high vulnerable road users the deployment using a combination

4:25:21of camera types will broaden the coverage area to the city thereby increasing the likelihood of

4:25:26drivers obeying posted speed limits staff will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the

4:25:33asc program to ensure it continues to achieve its goal of reducing speeds and injury severity on our

4:25:40roadway we know the program is contentious however it has proven to be an extremely effective tool

4:25:49in our road safety toolbox okay you've heard a lot of about plans to improve road safety

4:25:59so what are we asking for in terms of money well i'm happy to say there are no direct

4:26:04financial implications associated with the approval of the action plan any additional

4:26:11investments in road safety beyond today's action plan will be presented for council

4:26:17consideration during future budget cycles i'd like to just correct the wording on this slide

4:26:23and confirm all all 68 of the actions are already in the improved approved in the city's forecasted

4:26:30capital plan in our operating budgets and of course we know the budget sets the pace for our work

4:26:37of the 68 actions 53 are already embedded into our daily staff work plans the remaining 15 actions

4:26:46the remaining 15 are actions related to capital projects

4:26:51the vision zero action plan items tied to capital projects are small pieces related to

4:26:55bigger capital projects for example we may install more concrete than asphalt to tighten up a curb

4:27:02radius thereby having a minimal impact on the overall project cost it's difficult to give an

4:27:09exact number at this time as detailed design work is still ahead of us but i reiterate the impact to

4:27:15capital budgets is minimal there is also a dedicated capital budget tf 0037 for standalone

4:27:23road safety items there is no additional tax support funding required in approval of this plan

4:27:32additionally the transportation reserve fund is also available for projects related to road safety

4:27:37the proposed expansion of the a sc program beginning in august 2025 continues to be

4:27:43budgeted to be revenue neutral if any additional revenues are generated from our automated programs

4:27:49they will be allocated to the transportation reserve fund in closing today is the most recent

4:27:57step in our journey as noted on page 13 of the action plan just a few highlights from the introduction

4:28:05of our first traffic condom policy 27 years ago through the creation of our adult school

4:28:11crossing our program the adoption of the community road safety strategy the investment in our road

4:28:16safety staffing the introduction of automated enforcement programs the adoption of vision zero

4:28:23as part of the tmp and now today we're excited to present our first action plan on vision zero

4:28:30a guiding document for our community and council to reference as we strive to improve the safety

4:28:36of all road users in our community our investments are bearing fruit severe and fatal injury

4:28:43collision trends are decreasing operating speeds are decreasing but there's still more work to be

4:28:50done we will continue to strive towards our goal of zero severe or fatal injury related collisions

4:28:59on our roadway and with that we have three recommendations before you on the floor that

4:29:05are shown on the screen thank you thank you very much okay stay tuned for some council questions

4:29:14who wants to go first council boosetel oh yes sorry go to delegates yeah all right i jumped the gun

4:29:26we have delegates uh three delegates the first one being charles castillo my video conference

4:29:36great okay sorry is it mr castillo yeah oh yes sorry i'd cut out when you called the name so i wasn't

4:29:59sure if it was me okay so welcome to gulf city council our meeting about vision zero you'll have

4:30:04five minutes for your delegation you'll hear a chime when you have 30 seconds remaining okay okay

4:30:10so and when you're ready okay um so um i was sitting in my office working a few months ago

4:30:19after dropping off my kid at school and the house started rumbling uh sometimes planes fly low and

4:30:24that can rumble the house a little but this one was noticeably stronger i thought a plane must be

4:30:29flying lower than usual and and didn't think much of it but a few hours later my phone started buzzing

4:30:36and it turns out a parent from our school one of my son's classmates was hit by a car and that

4:30:42rumbling was the sound of an orange air helicopter landing in the park a couple blocks away i saw the

4:30:48news that uh someone was hit uh that was this incident and it wasn't fatal uh and that got me

4:30:55thinking like what does not fatal mean losing an arm isn't fatal a lifetime of chronic pain

4:31:01isn't fatal and losing your ability to earn an income isn't fatal imagine reaching your retirement

4:31:10age and looking forward to playing tennis every day but within a couple of years of your retirement

4:31:15day a car crash results in an injury to your rotator cuff that prevents you from raising your arm

4:31:20above your head uh that one happened to my father and uh yeah he doesn't play tennis that much anymore

4:31:28it's it's uh pickleball now um you can ask anyone and they'll tell you how drivers are terrible and

4:31:37pedestrians don't care about their own life and you know everybody has their own opinions

4:31:42uh i work as a software developer and the most successful teams i've worked on i've worked with

4:31:50we have a no-blame system if something went wrong we we don't point fingers or name names we identify

4:31:57where the process broke down or what was wrong in our design and and we identify different ways we

4:32:03can fix it uh in other words it's not about individuals it's about the system and this

4:32:10kind of system approach has improved safety in other industries uh the aviation industry is famously

4:32:16much more safer than our roadways um the professionals know this and the principles behind vision zero

4:32:27adopt this approach uh this weekend i i had an errand and i wanted to run down town but i didn't

4:32:36feel safe taking my youngest with me on my bike i knew we'd be fine we've we've done it before

4:32:41there's a trail that goes close to my house and close to downtown but um that day thinking about

4:32:48all the little barriers we have to cross it didn't feel safe so we stayed home and that's a kind of

4:32:55scenario that comes up all the time especially in the winter because we're a one-car family

4:33:00and the non-motorized infrastructure in this city is frankly kind of trash

4:33:07uh it's incredibly frustrating but being a one-car family um gives us

4:33:15a level of economic freedom so i'm i'm going to keep it up

4:33:19um the average cost of a car according to rate hub uh is now apparently over 16 000 a year

4:33:29which kind of blows my mind um let's take out the luxury cars and all that stuff from that and

4:33:34let's call it eight thousand dollars a year um that's eight thousand dollars a year on something

4:33:39that will turn into junk in just over 12 years is is the average these days if you're if you have

4:33:45good maintenance if you're lucky and here we are in the middle of an affordability crisis

4:33:51and day one of a terrafore um that's a lot of money uh that people have to spend

4:33:58um looking at the planning better ways to grow protecting vulnerable people

4:34:03just two themes in the vision zero plan um the city of guelph can offer some relief to people

4:34:09who aren't as hard-headed as me and being one-car family making streets safer could save many families

4:34:16thousands of dollars uh if they feel safe enough to forgo the extra vehicle and that's not to mention

4:34:21the cost of car on car collisions um but that's not going to happen as long as we keep hearing about

4:34:28people getting hit while they're on their bikes or crossing the streets or walking through a parking

4:34:32lot some people will say that injuries on the road are the price we pay for having freedom of

4:34:39movement and a good economy uh a necessary evil they'll call it it's easy to find excuses in opposition

4:34:46to this plan uh it'll cost too much money emergency response times will be too slow fire trucks

4:34:52can't fit through you know narrowed lanes or what have you or um some people also claim

4:34:59you're trying to create an open-air prison these are not serious blockers to this proposal

4:35:05there are valid points um these things can be managed mitigated or solved

4:35:14if any of your constituents brings okay mr. kestio thank you for your excellent delegation

4:35:22i'm going to look around and see if there are any members of council okay councillor Goller has a

4:35:26question for you uh thank you and through you uh chair roark uh to mr. kestio just wanted to

4:35:32to make sure that i understood um you're supporting vision zero are there any requests for changes or

4:35:39or um any different than what staff is recommending no it was a lot right i think there were 68 action

4:35:46items i didn't see anything too specific i mean i i'm more i'm more concerned about the like changing

4:35:55the environment things like narrowing lanes uh bulb outs to make crossings easier uh a big thing

4:36:02that i didn't talk about was it was really brought to light when i had kids um the the time it takes

4:36:09to cross the streets like i i i think i sent an email to city staff at the time like the the average

4:36:16a walk speed for like the elderly and kids is something like just under a meter or a second

4:36:23and the lights were timed for a walk speed over that so it didn't like it was baked in that it

4:36:28didn't have time enough for people to cross the streets and you know stuff like that is really

4:36:32frustrating and i don't see that those kind of details there but i would i would hope that

4:36:38those are the kind of details that you'd focus on and prioritize with this new approach thank you

4:36:44for that thank you chair okay any other questions for mr. kestio saying none thank you very much

4:36:50for your delegation have a great day thank you okay our next delegation is matt bolson also by

4:36:57video conference here we go okay hi mr. olson i'm chair auror you'll have 30 sorry you'll have five

4:37:16minutes for your delegation after when you have 30 seconds left you'll hear a chime and then once

4:37:22you're done stick around because there might be questions for members of council good afternoon

4:37:27everyone my name is matt olson and i'm here today as a parent and a proud member of family of six

4:37:32who relies entirely on cycling and public transportation to get around our great city of

4:37:37guelph for us safe streets aren't just a policy goal they shape every aspect of our daily lives

4:37:43so i'm here to represent all of them and to express our full support for vision zero vision zero is

4:37:49based on a simple but powerful idea that no loss of life on our roads is acceptable as a family we

4:37:56feel this really deeply every time we ride our bike to school to work grocery store we we face risks

4:38:02that no one should have to accept as just part of the system parents shouldn't have to wonder if

4:38:06their kids will make it safely across the crosswalk seniors should feel safe walking to the bus stop

4:38:11and cyclists whether you're eight or you're eighty shouldn't have to gamble with their lives just to

4:38:15get where they need to go as a family that sold our cars and stopped driving five years ago we see

4:38:21firsthand where guelph is doing well and where it can improve we appreciate the city's investments

4:38:26in active transportation but we also know the challenges we see the sidewalks that just end

4:38:31we know which roads are heavily traveled where protected lanes are located and which intersections

4:38:35to avoid at all costs i've had closed cars with cars on clear fields on the bike a road that doesn't

4:38:42have a lot of traffic calming measures in it gordon street is always a nightmare for us to go down

4:38:48two very different roads but both are heavily traveled and they lack the kind of safe cycling

4:38:52infrastructure that would make riding feel truly secure one of the scariest moments we had uh was

4:38:58last year at the intersection of gordon and clear road where a bike stroller was actually hit while

4:39:01we were crossing we were waiting to cross the crosswalk waited for our turn on coming cars and

4:39:07we still ended up being hit in the stroller being destroyed because the driver wasn't paying

4:39:11attention as he was turning thankfully no one was injured but it was a terrifying reminder of how

4:39:16vulnerable we are when drivers aren't paying attention and when intersections aren't designed

4:39:19with cyclists and pedestrians in mind for us these aren't minor inconveniences they determine

4:39:24whether we can get to school on time whether we can visit friends and whether our kids can grow up

4:39:28feeling independent and confident in our city vision zero isn't just about bike lanes it's about

4:39:33designing a city that works for everyone that means lower speed limits for people to walk and

4:39:37cycle safer intersections and protected bike infrastructure it means investing in transit so

4:39:42taking the bus is a real reliable alternative to driving other cities that commit to vision zero

4:39:46see fewer crashes fewer industries and fewer tragedies they also see a stronger community

4:39:51better air quality and more vibrant streets wealth has the chance to be a leader in making

4:39:56transportation safer and i urge the city to take bold steps towards this vision as a family we don't

4:40:01take safety for granted every day we make choices about where and how we travel based on what feels

4:40:06safe but safety shouldn't be a privilege it should be given i urge the city to keep pushing forward

4:40:11with vision zero because no one should have to risk their life just to get where they need to go

4:40:15thank you very much thank you mr olson hang on we'll see if we can get uh any questions for you

4:40:21nope it was clear as day thank you very much for your delegation thank you wonderful day yep

4:40:28just before we go to our next delegate i'm just wondering if mr anderson wants to address the

4:40:34comment about um not having enough time to cross the road i'm just i just want any sort of allegations

4:40:42to be corrected in the moment if we can uh thanks jarrow work for the opportunity to comment on that

4:40:51right now the provincial recommendation for traffic signal walking speed is 1.2 meters per

4:40:57second the golf standard is one meter per second but there are areas where we know like around the

4:41:03evergreen center for instance where we have higher concentrations of pedestrians that may require

4:41:08more time we use 0.8 meters per second to get across the street so and um i'm happy to say that we

4:41:17have a full traffic signal team staffed up again and that's one of the things in our work plan this

4:41:21year is to continue to review those walk times and make sure we're doing what we need to do to protect

4:41:28our road users perfect thanks very much and i'll call our last delegate uh andrea a bit good please

4:41:36she's with the golf coalition for active transportation welcome so you've been here before

4:41:46you know you have five minutes you'll hear a chime when you have 30 seconds left okay uh good afternoon

4:41:52council and mayor uh today i'm not just here as the chair of the golf coalition for active

4:41:59transportation but as someone who has lived the consequences of our unsafe streets i'm here today

4:42:06to voice my strong support for city staff's recommendations on the vision zero action plan

4:42:12the action plan is not just a recommendation it is a necessary response to a growing crisis

4:42:20in 2021 i was struck as a cyclist in a right hand a right hook by a pickup truck

4:42:28the driver while i was in truck yelled at me the police unfortunately felt like they were

4:42:33fixated on the rubber handle bar mark on the truck's door rather than my own well-being

4:42:41and they told me that the next time i might not survive i was not sent for medical attention

4:42:47like i should have been and i thought i was fine as well behind the shock what i didn't know

4:42:53was that a vertebrae in my lower spine had shifted within days i could barely move or care for myself

4:43:00in that first year i spent around three thousand dollars just on chiropractic care alone to regain

4:43:06my ability to walk today the costs and consequences are still ongoing still cycling remains my lifeline

4:43:16being one of the only pain-free and affordable ways for me to get around even though it feels

4:43:22like i'm gearing up for battle for every ride surprisingly as well i feel safer on two wheels

4:43:28than i do on my own feet in the city this past summer was particularly busy with gcat with advocacy

4:43:35work with an influx of incidences including children and seniors unfortunately we also lost

4:43:41the life of susan barred who had known through gcat volunteer work an unfortunate update is that a

4:43:4716 year old pedestrian was struck this sunday just within 500 meters from where susan was struck

4:43:55both in proximity of school on october 1st just three days after helping to organize

4:44:02that susan's ghost ride i was hit again a right hook again and a hit and run despite my experience

4:44:11despite the bright colors the flashing lights i was stuck five months later we haven't identified

4:44:18the driver and i am waiting on a specialist for my right arm the intersection at gordon surrey

4:44:25and the drive-through is well known for its dangers for vulnerable road users i got to

4:44:31witness first hand mcdonald's um having their collision response down to an art although this

4:44:40incident rate is high here the vision zero report acknowledges that not everything is being reported

4:44:49a month after my second incident i came across an elementary school student

4:44:53whose bike was under a car in the same intersection had i not been there it was highly likely that

4:44:59this incident would not have been reported at all because the child was scared about being late for

4:45:04school before we claim that the protective infrastructure doesn't work i have fully supported

4:45:12that the protected section slowed down the vehicle um enough to prevent more serious injuries for myself

4:45:19and this kid and the infrastructure here is saving lives as it probably saved my life

4:45:26but the infrastructure is limited in the city and slow rolling vision zero is not about taking

4:45:33away from one group or prioritizing one group over another it is not a war on cars it's about

4:45:40making our streets safer for everyone these incidences are real lives disrupted families

4:45:48devastated and leaves communities grieving even non-serious injuries represent a lot of income

4:45:56medical costs physical and psychological trauma that can extend beyond just the individuals involved

4:46:03by adopting the vision zero action plan and sticking to it we are making a commitment to

4:46:09preventing further harm thank you excellent timing thank you very much miss bidgood and

4:46:16condolences on the loss of your friend and colleague are there any questions for miss bidgood

4:46:23okay thank you for your work conchicat okay then it's back to us i would like somebody to

4:46:30move the motion councillor Goller seconded by councillor downer and i've got on the speaking

4:46:36list councillors boost till and alt thank you and through you madam chair and to the staff thank

4:46:48you for all the work on this i think it's excellent um i i really appreciate that the community safety

4:46:54zones around schools and the um autospeed cameras as well um i do have some questions around those

4:47:03school areas um i'm west end so willow westwood road kind of area and lots of concerns and complaints

4:47:12around speeds and it's not in your high priority area so i'm wondering around the timing of things

4:47:18like complaints uh from from parents and the work that you do to coordinate with i know i notice i

4:47:25found the number number 54 active and safe routes to school where schools have to do long term

4:47:30accommodation plans and updates to those plans annually every spring and submitted to the ministry

4:47:35of education where they look at and enrollments and where to realign students so students previously

4:47:42who were on that side of the handlin now walk over the bridge over the handlin and cyclists as well

4:47:49to get to school so those are elementary school children um how the conversations happen with

4:47:54either active safe routes to school or school boards to ensure that those kids are are getting to

4:48:00school safely and i believe in the city of guelph that's the only school group that has to walk over

4:48:04a bridge over the handlin to get to their school as well right now boundary reviews going the opposite

4:48:11way to our lady of your lures grade 78 those kinds of conversations that doesn't happen at active and

4:48:16safe routes to school that's after the decision's been made if you are part of those boundary review

4:48:22conversations with the sit with the school boards to say you know we can work with you we can make

4:48:27that happen um so i was a little bit surprised i thought in your presentation in the document it

4:48:32said the review happens every five years because those things happen in between those five year

4:48:38periods and if you're waiting for changes uh to those community safety zones or putting in

4:48:46additional crosswalks you heard about it during the splash pad conversation on westwood road

4:48:51concerns there if you're waiting every five years to review this if it's kind of out of sync or is

4:48:56it more a living document so if you can speak about that and the last piece is enforcement

4:49:03i honestly every morning i get calls and emails from parents around schools parking safety things

4:49:12like that enforcement enforcement enforcement thank you thank you councillor through the chair

4:49:21on the on the first item the intent is that the the formal policy reviewer for community

4:49:27safety zones will happen every five years however the actual community safety zones

4:49:34can be amended really at any time through a traffic bylaw amendment so what we're committing to

4:49:39there is the policy review every five years but in between should the road network change and

4:49:45require a change we will bring that forward to council on the second item of enforcement um

4:49:52there's no i mean it's a challenge right we have the resources we have between bylaw and police

4:50:00and what we do is try to support them with all the data we collect so they can get out to those

4:50:05hot spots that are are proven to be hot spots supported by data um we're trying to work hand in

4:50:12hand um you see colleagues of ours uh from golf police that we interact with daily are here supporting

4:50:19us in the gallery we do what we can to give them the best data to go to the spots where we're

4:50:24having the biggest issues sorry just through the chair one of the other things i asked was about

4:50:29consultation i saw number 54 in the plan about active in-state routes to school which are not

4:50:35your planning body that's more kind of your communication and so on is there a tie to the

4:50:41planning uh whether it's boundary reviews and so on with with the school boards not the committee

4:50:49thank you councillor brisettill through the chair um if you don't mind i'd love to take that away i think

4:50:54i know the answer but i don't want to speculate i know we have a couple touch points with the

4:50:59school board but if i can follow up before the council meeting um so i've got the fact sorry

4:51:05i'd love to do that for you okay councillor Allt thank you very much chair work through you to staff

4:51:13um i appreciate the statement that there's no direct financial implication but uh

4:51:20uh i'm going to contradict you a bit i actually think that there's a positive one

4:51:24and it relates to policing paramedics and ambulances do we have any idea of what the impact might be

4:51:31on issues associated with um with the well essentially first response and uh and uh reducing

4:51:38speed limits and therefore lowering the potential for more significant accidents is there anything

4:51:44that we could report that is a dollars and cents issue uh through the chair to council again

4:51:54let let me take that way and see what we can get back to you it's probably a bit

4:51:58difficult i will point again we we highlighted just in the first three years of the red light camera

4:52:03we've seen a 40 million dollar savings in societal costs related to injury severity of

4:52:09collisions there so that that's a significant number to report thank you very much it's not

4:52:15to mention the savings on helicopters as well um with regards to the community safety zones

4:52:21uh councillor Busuttil and i did converse a little bit on the the boards but there are a couple of

4:52:26other aspects of this that are equally as important um i note that conestoga college at speedvale

4:52:32is one of the areas that will be identified uh because it is a an educational institution

4:52:38and i think that that one has to be uh annoyingly difficult to address similarly i would think that

4:52:44the university of guelph at stone road and to a lesser extent college at the arboretum would be

4:52:50equally challenging and then there's one that's about the nuance i believe it's the calvary baptist

4:52:56school at the corner of speedvale and knightswood those are all three fairly hot traffic areas have

4:53:03we been able to address how we can deal with those four and sometimes five lane roads and

4:53:09help hopefully to reduce traffic in those areas uh through the chair to councillor Allt uh presently

4:53:19our traffic calming policy um precludes us from traffic calming arterial roads having said that we

4:53:26do have some tools in our community road safety strategy um but thus far on arterial roads they've

4:53:33proven to have not quite the desired results we hope to achieve um i don't want to say the

4:53:40suggestion of a sc is sort of a last resort on those arterial roads but it's certainly um probably

4:53:48one of the best tools we can put in our toolbox to try to at least ensure the vehicles that are on

4:53:55our arterial roads which are supposed to be on the arterial roads are driving at the appropriate

4:53:59speed and and thank you for that the one that really is flagged for me is conestoga college

4:54:07because it is a tremendously heavily used area for larger vehicles as well i hope we can somehow

4:54:13address that one thanks hey councillor goller uh thank you and through your chair to staff

4:54:24first of all thank you for for the huge amount of work that has been done it's really appreciated

4:54:30all of the research um and the focus on on pedestrian and cyclist uh safety i really

4:54:37appreciate it i've heard from a lot of my constituents that really support this um and

4:54:42and there's a couple of questions about clarification about how this will be rolled out

4:54:48one of them and it's it's come up more recently in the last couple of days because the of the current

4:54:55uh trade situation that that is happening um the the firm that that provides the ASC

4:55:04as i understand that the products are made south of the border could you tell us a little bit about

4:55:09that that process whether there were you know do we have the ability to to explore Canadian

4:55:17vendors are there anyone in in Canada producing this could you tell us a little bit about that

4:55:22so through the chair to councillor goller yeah thanks for obviously very timely question

4:55:27i think what i can say of course uh you know with respect to trade and what's going on in the world

4:55:33um there's a lot of real-time live things happening and certainly the city is monitoring that

4:55:39through our under governmental department through our finance team um what i can say with respect

4:55:43to the work that we've got it is certainly procured work we're in contract with companies

4:55:48the company that supplies the cameras for example is an american-based company with

4:55:52the canadian headquarters but again all that work was done consistent with the city's

4:55:59chairman bylaw and so with respect to how the contracts are made and entered we're following

4:56:03cities standard processes and i think anything beyond that is really more what we're monitoring

4:56:08as an organization um has a whole okay okay no i i appreciate that and maybe this

4:56:17let me know executive team if this is not a question for today but are we going to be

4:56:21reviewing our procurement bylaw to make the priority of Canada first is that something

4:56:27that we're even allowed to do under uh Ontario regulations no okay thank you chair but if i could

4:56:35ask i think it has been an issue publicly that was certainly on social media i've seen that

4:56:46some of the procurement is from the us for the speed cameras so i just i would say that it is

4:56:52somewhat so if you can keep your question specifically to the speed cameras and not to

4:56:56a broader procurement process then i'll allow it thank you thank you so so through that if i could

4:57:01rephrase do we have the ability to review so that the next eight cameras that we purchase

4:57:09come from from canada is that possible so through the chair to councillor goller again i think the

4:57:18the process through the city's procurement bylaw has been followed we're in contract with a vendor and

4:57:23so um the contract stipulations apply and certainly reviewing anything outside that

4:57:29contract from an additional purchasing perspective is not something on our work plan we're focused

4:57:33on the work that is in the action plan that you have in front of you and that's where staff's

4:57:37attention is okay okay i appreciate that i'll follow offline on this but but thank you for that

4:57:45um related to this uh there was there was a newspaper article that talked about the revenue

4:57:51that actually comes back to the city um from those tickets if if you could please help me understand

4:57:57for every ticket that is issued how much of that actually comes back to the city and i know that

4:58:03last month we approved an administrative penalty system bylaw how will that actually shift the

4:58:10revenue to the city to to support more traffic calming through the chair to councillor goller so

4:58:20for 2024 68 percent of the ASC revenue came back to Guelph so the 32 percent that

4:58:32got sort of peeled out that covered our daily operating cost to the vendor and also our commitment

4:58:39to process the violations which is currently down in Toronto we owe the MTO some money for

4:58:46license plate information on every ticket whether it's a speeding ticket from a police officer

4:58:51there's a victim surcharge we collect that we put that money back to the province so 68 percent of

4:59:00the 2024 ASC revenue quote unquote stayed in Guelph okay i i really appreciate that i had read

4:59:07different numbers on some of the letters sent to us so i appreciate hearing that that is the what

4:59:12comes back to the city um and along with this there was also a comment from someone that wrote in

4:59:20about this being uncaring machines that are penalized and drivers can i verify when when um

4:59:27an image is taken is there an actual human that is looking at this and that is a proving ticket

4:59:35through the chair to councillor goller yes thank you very much for that i really appreciate it and

4:59:41i look forward to seeing those additional um cameras coming in uh with regards to the high risk network

4:59:51i understand that i was looking at a couple of the images that you provided there's a high risk

4:59:55network uh you also had a list of the incidents of serious injury or death and a list of the

5:00:03pedestrian cyclist collisions can you help me understand how those inform and you know for

5:00:08example when i look at the map the section between between on woodland between victoria road and

5:00:16woollett street um they uh it seems that there were no pedestrian cyclist collisions there were no

5:00:24serious injuries or deaths and yet it is identified as a both a highest prior road and a high prior

5:00:32road uh whereas other sections uh i mean as i look at that map of um of both casualties and

5:00:40collisions the entire gordon street to through downtown woollett it it's all littered with with

5:00:49incidents of collisions so i'm wondering why is that whole stretch not part of the high priority

5:00:55network uh to you councillor rork uh thank you for your question um so the high risk network

5:01:05is a concentration of a number of risk factors and we kind of we outlined some of these risk factors

5:01:11on page 47 so each segment every little part of the roadway was analyzed for its historical

5:01:17collision data average daily vehicle volume average vehicle speed average daily pedestrian

5:01:23volume average daily cyclist volume percentage of population over the age of 65 and percentage of

5:01:29low income in that area so it's trying to identify the risk of potential whether there's been a

5:01:34collision collisions are there but also it's more thinking about what potential future collisions

5:01:40could involve so in the high risk network we're trying to show the highest potential for that risk

5:01:45so in some places where there were conditions uh collisions specifically with car on car or maybe

5:01:51there was a collision with a car on a person who was walking on unless it was a higher risk it

5:01:57wasn't included in the high risk network so there's a number of different factors that were included

5:02:01so the high risk network is different than perhaps the first visual that you see which is the the

5:02:05number of collisions resulted in deaths and serious injuries okay okay okay i appreciate that it is

5:02:10is the risk factor then as we look at the community safety zone policy how will both of those play

5:02:19into into effect well i mean so just because i don't see a section of of wallet street here

5:02:26identified as a high highest priority road or a high priority road will they still be considered

5:02:33for community safety zones do you councillor work back to you go already yeah so the that's a good

5:02:42question because right now what you see on page 48 is the highest of the high so this is these are

5:02:48the areas of the highest potential now what our community safety zone policy addresses is that

5:02:53any like on top of the recommendations to have primary education centers and hospitals also

5:03:00roads that are near community facility and near the average of the the high risk network so anything

5:03:05that is high ish compared to all the risk of all the segments of every roadway whatever is high

5:03:11from the average onwards can be considered as long as it's 300 meters away from a community facility

5:03:16so i can't tell you specifically and i can get back to you if that would include but i do the

5:03:23i would say that community safety zones could is much more broader can be broader

5:03:27considered with that not just within this high risk network it's a broader number of segments

5:03:31that are considered okay okay thank you for that and i will follow offline a couple about a couple

5:03:36of the the roads that my constituents tell me that they have the most concern about because many of

5:03:40them are listed but some of them are not i appreciate that and just in terms of the timing i see in

5:03:47the report that the new community safety zones for the purposes of the new automated speed cameras

5:03:54will be in place for um september 2026 and we're approving the community safety zones policy today

5:04:03with five implementation steps on page three when do we actually see those new community

5:04:09safety zones being brought back to us uh through the chair to council galler i i appreciate

5:04:18i should have included a calendar as an attachment so the uh let's assume the community safety zone

5:04:25policy is approved on march 25th we will then come back between march 25th and july 1st and inform

5:04:32council what those initial locations will be you will approve a traffic bylaw amendment to confirm

5:04:38that we will then implement the signs this call it summer july and august 2025 and again we want to

5:04:48give a full year for everybody to understand something has changed here before we would consider

5:04:56putting a camera in so signs bylaw enactment summer 2025 actual enforcement kind of fall 2026

5:05:07okay okay i really appreciate that um no that that's that's wonderful uh this brings me to to the

5:05:13actual action plan 68 action items fantastic will there be a dashboard on the website that actually

5:05:21lists them until start progress or how do we envision the community tracking what is being

5:05:25actioned um to you councillor rohrick back to you go great question uh communication strategy is

5:05:33listed in one of our actions we anticipate once this is approved if this is approved by by the

5:05:39community the whole and also by council this will move forward to be presented publicly on our vision

5:05:44zero website on gulf dot ca slash vision zero currently there is a dashboard which lists all of

5:05:49our public all of our data related to some of our key actions previously previous to this approval

5:05:56as well as all of our collision data so we hope to promote our our many of these actions through

5:06:02that dashboard okay okay i i look forward to seeing that that that's wonderful um and if you could

5:06:08help me understand sorry councillor gallard you have many more questions because you are edging

5:06:13up to that five minute limit i have a couple of more uh chair but you let me know when my time

5:06:19stopped make that quick yep yes um thank you um with with regards to to the complaints that

5:06:28are from my constituents uh there is a lot of concerns about tailgating dangerous driving

5:06:34could you tell me i saw that a couple of the action items talk about uh working with police

5:06:39on driver education could you tell us a little bit about what that would look like um through

5:06:49madam chair to councillor Goller currently we work with gulf police as part of our vision

5:06:53zero steering committee so we need um about four times a year to talk about issues as a whole

5:06:59that affect the city part of our vision zero plan is really looking at equity and and looking at that

5:07:05we are of course interested in what the community is telling us they're on the ground they're looking

5:07:09at these day-to-day issues but we're also trying to rely on a lot of the data that we see through

5:07:15things like the high-risk network by looking at speeds collision history and things of that nature

5:07:20and then working with police on that back end so that it supports some of their enforcement work

5:07:26okay okay no i i i really appreciate that um and through you chair my my last question uh i got this

5:07:34from a couple of the of the letters on a couple of constituents when we have uh the speed radar

5:07:40signs is it possible to put in the speed limit because i hear from many people that they see

5:07:46a flashing they know they're going too fast but they don't know they're supposed to be going 50

5:07:49or 40 or 30 when it's flashing at them through the chair to councillor Goller yes we've also

5:07:55heard that feedback it's something on our work plan this year thank you very much okay

5:08:02mayor guthrie followed by councillor Chew well thank you uh thank you chair and through you

5:08:11couple of my questions were covered off by my friend here thank you very much

5:08:16saves everybody more time um let's see here crossing guards just wondered if we could bring

5:08:22that question up um some of the some of the information i want to give credit where credits

5:08:29do here chair or or sent an email to everybody uh this morning from a constituent that just wanted

5:08:36to highlight as part as we as we look to implement uh like tech technology a lot of this is technology

5:08:43or uh that we're talking about there's also you know the real-life human interaction of a

5:08:48crossing guard just wondered if you could speak to how are we doing with that program how is that

5:08:53program interrelated with what what's happening here um is are we in a problem spot with with

5:09:01crossing guards is there a problem with hiring retention do we need more uh how does that intersect

5:09:09with with this report through the chair to mayor guthrie uh thanks for the question i'll just

5:09:19bit of groundwork we're we're celebrating the 20th year of our adult school crossing

5:09:23your program in wealth this year i think our longest serving guard has been with us for 16 years so

5:09:30we have a great staff we have 35 current locations and between full-time guards and spare guards we

5:09:38have 53 uh part-time staff supporting the program um mayor guthrie you've addressed all the things

5:09:47uh uh recruitment retention um is a bit of a challenge for this program um just with the

5:09:54the nature of the job the hours of work outside year around um it tends to attract uh people who

5:10:01are retired who want to give back to their community um but therein lies you know it's it's

5:10:07difficult sometimes for them to be out in the the dead of winter and the worst of their conditions so

5:10:13um we do our best with the program but all the things you highlighted are our challenges that

5:10:19we've been encountering for several years in terms of recruitment retention staff turnover

5:10:26but those who are in the program um are super dedicated um and we do the best we can with it

5:10:36thank you so much you know sometimes uh you know i think about certain

5:10:43hirings that the city does throughout the year uh lifeguards as an example um staff will kind of

5:10:49throw that to all of council to amplify so if you're if you're doing things that would help

5:10:55with this you know if you could let us know we can amplify that to try to see if we can

5:10:59help with recruiting if if that's a need um i just wondered about the reaction time no pun intended

5:11:06to staff with being able to go to problem areas that arise in the moment with potential

5:11:13infrastructure and or technology that can be used in other words do we have on hand a roaming

5:11:23flashing speed signs and do we have enough of them do we have roaming speed enforcement that

5:11:29can be dedicated to roaming to certain areas where they're needed where we get in the moment

5:11:35sort of problem uh for for certain areas do we have those things on hand through the chair to

5:11:45marigot three i would say yes like we have some devices that we can deploy for instance if we get

5:11:51uh an unplanned long-term road closure we could very easily get into a neighborhood with some

5:11:57temporary measures um to reinforce traffic coming selfishly we could always have more

5:12:03but we work within you know the budgets and means in which we have um am i i think my last

5:12:11question through you madam chair is this is that um when you implement certain features within

5:12:18certain and on certain roads and you're gathering that data and that feedback which is great

5:12:25is there any look at capturing some of the feedback and or real-life scenarios that sometimes play

5:12:33we might get um complaints about this where the speed or the diversion of certain things

5:12:40on a certain street or a school is is doing really really great but the ripple effect of that is that

5:12:48other side streets now we've got a bunch of cars that are going in different areas of

5:12:53residential neighborhoods because they don't want to be in those areas how are you capturing

5:12:59that uh that data and how are you addressing that

5:13:05through you madam chair to mayor gethry one of the things that we do is we do baseline and

5:13:11pre post data collection on adjacent roadways now of course that's going to vary neighborhood by

5:13:15neighborhood some neighborhoods there's a more obvious three way where the volume can shift from

5:13:20one location to another but that's why we've looked at um volume data on those adjacent roadways

5:13:26one of the things that we notice is on average we're seeing about a 15 percent uh if you look at

5:13:31automated speed enforcement as an example we're seeing a 15 percent reduction on volume on the

5:13:35roads that have ASC that being said again it's going it'll be variable so there'll be other roads

5:13:41where the adjacent roadways may have um an increase or a decrease and so we sort of monitor the area

5:13:48as a whole and the network as a whole to see how we can look at safety for that entire region

5:13:53okay thank you my last question is just to ask this now not knowing if this is the right place

5:14:00and if it's not i'm fine with that but through you madam chair um a lot of a lot of delegations

5:14:07today a lot of feedback around bicycling infrastructure fair enough that's that's fine

5:14:14um i am getting overly concerned about planned construction where infrastructure is being

5:14:24implemented where there are vehicular lanes that are being taken away or on street parking

5:14:30that is being taken away and i am wondering if that is being captured in any of the kpis and data

5:14:39that is occurring in the overall implementation of those types of that type of infrastructure

5:14:45as it relates to vision zero if it's accomplishing like the outcomes from a vision zero perspective

5:14:52that we're looking for so i'll it's and i'm just wanting to know i'm fine if this is not the right

5:14:57place for it but i i am getting more and more concerned about this and i just didn't know if

5:15:03this is the right place or or or not so through you chair or to mayor guthrie thanks it's a great

5:15:10question it's certainly all linked right in terms of the built environment and vision zero being a

5:15:15principle that goes into the way we design things the way we track um the collision history the impacts

5:15:20all the things that we've talked about today and so um they are linked we do have a council workshop

5:15:25and education and engagement session coming up on march 19th where there is a bit more connection

5:15:30to things like neighborhood bikeways and other techniques that we're looking at implementing

5:15:35commentary around updates to cycling master plans and things of that nature and so there is more

5:15:39information coming to council um so certainly it's all linked together certainly we are collecting

5:15:45stats and data and tracking the impacts of all these things um so it's an appropriate question

5:15:51okay i'll leave it at that then and we'll leave it at that conversation to start maybe a bit more

5:15:56on march the 19th all right thank you uh my final question is is this if people do not

5:16:02want to get speeding tickets they should not do what oh um is this a riddle uh through the

5:16:12chair and the mayor i'd suggest drivers are 100 in control of whether or not they get a speeding

5:16:17ticket thank you all right over to councillor chou then councillor Caton thank you through you

5:16:28madam chair uh i just wanted to ask um where can we find that volume data is that internal or is that

5:16:35on the dashboard uh through the chair to council right right now it's internal um we have longer

5:16:45term plans of looking at more open data transparency around volume speed all that stuff but right now

5:16:52it's just internal okay um and i just want to clarify so the um questions made through uh

5:17:00councillor Goller so that high risk network uh basically what we're seeing um is just the most

5:17:07severe uh locations but is that correct to chair to you too um yes that's the most the highest risk

5:17:17index score as what we're calling it uh according to our own risk index okay and how do we uh

5:17:25channel conversations around where we'd like to expand community safety zones because it seems

5:17:31like there's some uh discretion as well now uh if the new um designations passed um

5:17:46well i'll say um through the chair to councillor chou as i stated earlier our plan is um let's get

5:17:56the policy approved then we'll come back with our initial roll out based on our recommendations

5:18:02if council wishes to add a street to lead a street as as nico indicated in the highway

5:18:11traffic act they are at the discretion of council so uh motion could be put on the floor but

5:18:17again we'll come back with all the supporting information on why we've selected the locations

5:18:22we've selected okay yeah no that's that's fair and i and i i just want to respect your guys's

5:18:29process as well so i just asked that to clarify for so i can take back to folks to so they understand

5:18:37you know where you guys are at because you have to service the whole city not just word six um

5:18:43i did kind of want to touch on how we're able to collectively address some of the cultural

5:18:49expectations that are built around some of our roadways because you know in my in council

5:18:55recognize uh neck of the woods we do have uh streets that are historically meant to be

5:19:01like large arterial roads um but that's no longer necessarily the purpose but we do get a lot of

5:19:07thoroughfare traffic and you can probably infer where i'm talking about and you know there's

5:19:13tarmigan downy road and even nisca now um and it's really hard for me to kind of capture

5:19:22some of the concerns and rectify that necessarily through that community safety zone designation

5:19:28if i were to advocate from our constituents and say okay like maybe we can designate nisca

5:19:34at the community safety zone um it doesn't necessarily get captured through the criteria

5:19:40that is prescribed so i just i'm just very curious like how we can kind of work through

5:19:45some of the gray areas that's not necessarily acknowledged through the formal uh policy but

5:19:51you know there's a great uh cultural uh expectation that we rectify this and there are a lot of folks

5:19:58that don't necessarily go through the channel of the service requests and so forth that do come to us

5:20:04and we're having to come to you but we want to make sure it's legitimate as well what we're

5:20:09trying to say so um it's it's a loaded question but i'm just curious like how like with this new

5:20:18policy moving forward like how do we work together in this public realm and even you know back a house

5:20:29to you chair to uh councillor chou i'll i'll say what i think i'm hearing is how do we speak to

5:20:37people and communicate this idea of vision zero and how do we communicate risk as well um we we

5:20:43prepared a survey to which was responded to by a thousand residents and trying to understand what

5:20:49their current understanding of vision zero not vision zero but what is what is safety um is it

5:20:55okay to speed a little bit faster what roads should be prioritized should be prioritized local roads

5:21:00or faster roads so we try to understand what people's thinking was and their perception on road safety

5:21:06and then we we were we're now analyzing that data based on where people live

5:21:10based on how they get around based on their age and we're having some interesting findings so I

5:21:14think over the next year we'll have a communications report that's listed as part of the vision

5:21:19superaction to be able to be more clear on how do we communicate more appropriately to people's

5:21:24lived experience and hopefully get get them on board as well okay and yeah I appreciate a lot of

5:21:35what I I had initially was answered but I guess I'll just leave with like a final remark if that's

5:21:40okay with you um I think we just need a way to provide more clarity as to what the expectations

5:21:51are when folks do come through with a service request and if they come to us directly as counselors

5:21:58like I do need to emphasize there are a lot of folks that don't go through the channel that

5:22:04we're promoting and that I I'm actively promoting and they're looking to us to kind of be able to

5:22:11communicate these concerns and at the end of the day people just want to see things get put on the

5:22:18ground as well so I'm trying to strike the balance between making sure we're going through this

5:22:24objective process which we're trying to articulate that's you know data driven but ensure that you

5:22:30know we're not just leaving people with some word salad at the end of the day so if you guys can

5:22:35give me some more comfort on that note I can then forward these conversations we're having to my

5:22:43constituents. Thanks for the question through the chair to council. One of the things we are

5:22:53desperately working to achieve is to be more proactive and not rely on waiting for the phone

5:22:59ring or an email to come in to tell us where a problem is however the reality is we have some

5:23:05catching up to do on on this work we have hundreds of outstanding service requests

5:23:11we're working our way through so I would say in the in the interim we appreciate the support

5:23:17continue to to pass those messages along my friend to my left here has been on me since he became

5:23:26my boss about how do we be more proactive and we will get there we just need to kind of get caught

5:23:33up with a bit of the backlog so that that's where I would say to that. Okay councillor Katyn.

5:23:43Thank you through you chair work. First out I love it like great job this is an amazing report

5:23:51and you all have done a lot of work and it's an incredibly important topic. I was wondering

5:23:58as we're just kind of on the end hopefully of winter has there been a difference between

5:24:05seasonal accidents things that are caused by like snowdrifts being high and people like jetting

5:24:11out and things like that versus others or is that something that we're not looking into?

5:24:18Through the chair to the councillor that's actually something I've flagged right to make a point to

5:24:25identify these couple of weeks in the calendar there is a lag to get collision data in so we

5:24:30might not know that answer till into the summer but it's certainly something now we have the

5:24:35capability to do analysis on that we that we didn't years ago. Great thank you and I as you I'm sure

5:24:46you've heard big on pedestrian crosswalks and am I assuming correctly that that's like the the plan

5:24:53for those in expansion is kind of rolled up in the pedestrian master plan? Through the

5:25:00the chair to the councillor yes and as Terry noted we have a workshop coming on March 19th and one

5:25:06of the the topics you'll see on that is on that very subject around pedestrians and getting around

5:25:12the city. Great and through the chair final question I know that staff had made a commitment to the AAC

5:25:21to be using speed humps as sparingly as possible due to concerns they had with folks in disabilities

5:25:29kind of going over them I was just wondering has the rollout of the automated speed cameras helped

5:25:35with that commitment at all? Through the chair to the councillor we're seeing well I don't want to

5:25:47sound like I'm kicking the hand down the road we have some positive data and you'll see it when

5:25:51the workshop agenda comes out and we're going to we're going to talk about that and we are also

5:25:56committed to doing a review of our traffic calming policy this year so certainly again we'll be reaching

5:26:02out to the AAC as with all the public around any updates to that policy. Great thank you very much

5:26:11okay Councillor Billings. Okay so the speed cameras and I realize we're we're going to have more of

5:26:22they operate 24-7. One of the biggest complaints that I receive is someone getting a ticket

5:26:33three in the morning so we're going to have more of the speed cameras on arterial roads

5:26:40if there's a high school for example and so okay these cameras are they capable at all

5:26:49and only operating at certain times of day? Through the chair to Councillor Billings yes.

5:27:00But you are proposing the 24-7 on an arterial road where there's a high school so that you'll

5:27:06still get a ticket in the middle of the night is that correct? Through the chair to Councillor

5:27:12Billings to clarify the speed limit will be consistent all hours of the day it doesn't speak

5:27:20to the enforcement hours it'll be the speed limit that's in effect all hours of the day.

5:27:25So on arterials that's going to be a 40 then in the school zone? Through the chair yes.

5:27:35But the cameras are still going to operate 24-7? Through the chair

5:27:46respectfully I'd rather not disclose what hours we're enforcing I don't want to get into that

5:27:56respectfully we have the option to not enforce 24 hours. Okay next question then one of the

5:28:06action plans to investigate implementing no right turns on a red policy red light policy along high

5:28:14risk network that I agree with but then it says also for the policy to go throughout Guelph

5:28:20why wouldn't we just concentrate on the high risk or is it throughout Guelph in there in case

5:28:26something comes up with an area that's not in the high risk area but yet there's been an accident?

5:28:34Yeah the policy is to explore no right turn on red as is being explored by a few other municipalities

5:28:44in Ontario at the moment I believe where the idea would be that we would need to explore if it's

5:28:51feasible to do it across the city or if it's also we should be focusing specifically on high risk

5:28:56network from a communications lens it's helpful for people to know across the city that it's

5:29:02that no no right turns on reds are permitted it just helps with people's understanding of the

5:29:08rules of the road. Okay so it's an assessment that you're going to do? Yeah we're going to

5:29:13explore the feasibility of this. Okay and then through you I will thank you for the clarity

5:29:19on that one. Through you Madam Chair I do want to go back to decreasing lanes so again one of the

5:29:27actions is the conversion of general traffic lanes to dedicated transit lanes so I guess my question

5:29:37is more process if this plan is approved because the time frame of that is three to five years

5:29:46will staff be coming back to council to to approve where where this decrease will be

5:29:53or are you or will staff just implement and and put in the the dedicated transit lane

5:30:00without council approval? Through the chair to council billing so so that work was approved as

5:30:09part of the transportation master plan and those areas identified in the city are are within that

5:30:15document. There's budgeted items for that in the three to five year window and I will confirm to you

5:30:24about your question in terms of how that is coming back to council. I don't have that on me

5:30:30right now. Okay yeah that's all I wanted to know if it was going to come back. Thank you. Okay who's

5:30:38on the board? Councillor Goller I'll give you 30 seconds to ask your question. Thank you very

5:30:44generous chair. When will we go be going down to 30 kilometers per hour on residential streets?

5:30:51When we approve 40 you said that there will be a review and we will consider going down to 30.

5:30:59Through the chair to council Gowler my recollection is we committed to doing that review in 2027.

5:31:06Appreciate that thank you. Thank you so I have a number of questions myself. Further to councillor

5:31:13Billings question when the transportation safety transportation master plan came to council I had

5:31:20a motion to ask that when the conversation about taking lanes off of Corden for a transit corridor

5:31:27have that come back to council. I believe that motion failed but I would like to reiterate

5:31:34my desire to see that come back to council for a fulsome conversation about the elimination of

5:31:40two lanes of traffic on Gordon Street which is one of the only north south arterials in the south end.

5:31:45So if you need a motion we could bring a motion at the end of the month. I have a question again

5:31:52similar to councillor Billings regarding the new high school that's going to be at Victoria and

5:31:57Arkle. So how does a 40 kilometer on Arkle and a 40 kilometer on Victoria work would those be the

5:32:07neighborhood zones where fines are doubled? Would those be areas for speed cameras? Because I've

5:32:12got some concerns about somebody who late at night you know is coming across the city from the way

5:32:20in the north end all the way down to Claire Road and they're going to hit multiple zones of 60,

5:32:2740, 50 like the speeds really vary a lot. I think it would be challenging for a motorist to be honest

5:32:34I know that rode really well. What's the plan for intersections like that that are also I believe

5:32:40truck routes? To you chair or RORC we haven't totally finalized the high school but you're quite

5:32:53right they would they would fall within our policy and be posted as a community safety zone and be

5:32:58posted as 40 kilometers an hour and therefore be eligible for an automated speed enforcement camera.

5:33:06One of the action items is to review like our speed limit policy. One of the things we'll be

5:33:13doing this summer is cleaning up. We've heard about College Avenue for instance it kind of

5:33:17bits and bobs the whole way along so certainly where there's opportunities to make speed limits

5:33:22more uniform along the same roadway that's one of the things we're actively looking to do.

5:33:31Thank you really quick one can we use automated speed enforcement for speed racing?

5:33:39Street racing rather? Through the chair yes provided the street racing happens

5:33:48where the camera is installed. I'll reiterate if anybody exceeds the threshold I'm looking it's

5:33:57either 40 or 50 kilometers an hour then they go through a more punitive penalty system it's not

5:34:05just you get a speeding ticket you get a knock at the door from one of my friends in the gallery

5:34:10there so street racing is captured through the speed enforcement cameras as well.

5:34:24I'm thinking the reports that 72% of the collisions are occurring at intersections so I'm

5:34:29wondering how automated speed enforcement helps that because what I'm seeing myself in terms of

5:34:37near misses there's people there they're rushing the intersection to get through before the pedestrians

5:34:42can and we I mean it's horrifying the number of pedestrians who've been hit so what is the

5:34:48improvement to the intersections there is a reference in the report about leading pedestrian

5:34:53intervals are we going to see more of those? To you chair or work there's a whole suite of options

5:35:02that we can implement at intersections to improve the safety of all road users and to your specific

5:35:08question yes the expansion of leading pedestrian intervals is on our work plan in 2025.

5:35:14Great to piggyback on one of my colleagues questions also what happens to existing traffic calming

5:35:23requests and service requests are folks that have been waiting for a while for

5:35:27some reports and maybe some some calming in their neighborhood.

5:35:33To you chair we're we're going to explore that conversation in depth on March 19th.

5:35:39Great super quick the high-risk network shows Gordon leading to Claire will be

5:35:46is part of the high-risk network but won't that be addressed by the Gordon Street improvements?

5:35:55To you chair or work possibly we haven't done detailed design yet again the beauty of the

5:36:02implementation of some of these zones is they can change over time.

5:36:06Okay one more question and then two comments real quick.

5:36:15We get a lot of questions around the speed of processing the tickets so if our friends in the

5:36:21gallery pull me over I know immediately that I've been going too fast it's been a long time though

5:36:27so glad to see them only in the gallery so people are really concerned right they're

5:36:33they're coming through a neighborhood kind of frequently and all of a sudden they've got six

5:36:36tickets in the mail and admittedly they've been speeding can we increase the speed of processing

5:36:42since the goal is changing a behavior and not being punitive? To you chair or work we continue

5:36:51to work with both our vendor and the processing center on speeding that up we've made a few

5:36:58changes to the way we roll out the cameras and I'll say on our end that concern has largely

5:37:05been dissipated over the last six to eight months. That's great news to hear okay and then my two

5:37:12takeaways are with respect to action four for the quality transit network there may be a motion at

5:37:18the end of the month to to require that to come back to council and then on action seven is there

5:37:24a reason that that does not currently involve economic development? The reason I raise it

5:37:32is because we do need truck routes we do need goods movement and I'm wondering if our friends

5:37:38from economic development are involved? To you chair or work the project was project managed

5:37:44through our transportation planning division and it within that they reached out to all sorts of

5:37:50different groups both internal and external and definitely economic development was one of them.

5:37:57Okay great all right so those are my questions anyone else? No the motion is on the floor any

5:38:03amendments? No I see no amendments no need to split the recommendations okay anyone opposed?

5:38:15Okay then that vote carries all right I'm going to go to Mayor Guthrie and then we have a staff