Commentary, Opinion

Traffic calming

February 27, 2026   ·   0 Comments

According to the Ontario Road Safety 2024 report, there were 27,292 vehicle accidents, 409 were fatal, and 24,545 resulted in personal injury. Most of these accidents involved passenger vehicles, and most of these could have been prevented. Just think of how much sorrow and money we could save in medical and insurance fees if we could prevent these collisions.

Today, everybody speeds even though there are signs, speed bumps, and speed cameras. We, in an area where there are no sidewalks and with wide snowbanks, are unable to walk safely in the streets because of fast drivers, yet there are 30 km/h speed signs up all around. 

On the 400-series highways, there are never enough lanes to accommodate all the speeders and slow drivers.

So, what’s the solution that provides safety for our drivers, passengers, walkers, bicyclists, etc.  Maybe we need to find a way to automatically control a car’s speed and adjust it up or down based on location, time of day, weather conditions, and public safety.

In most new cars, there is a feature that reads speed limit signs and displays them on the dashboard or the front window. For instance, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 has a feature that turns the numbers red when you go over the speed limit, so all we need to do is not allow the car to exceed that speed. 

For safety reasons, there are rules that say we must wear seat belts. Seat belts became mandatory in Ontario in 1976, and it is estimated that 9,000 lives have been saved. Similarly, catalytic converters were made mandatory in 1988 to reduce acid rain and smog. These rules were all made for public safety.

So why not speed? Here is how it would work. The speed signs would all be electrically controlled, allowing the speed limits to change. For instance, in school zones, the cars would go at the maximum speed the signs would allow. After school, the speed limit could be raised to normal street speeds.  Similarly, at night, when the traffic is light, the speed could be changed to a higher speed. In a heavy snowfall, the speeds could be altered to fit the conditions, and all cars would go at the same speed.

This means everybody behind you would go the same speed. That way, the older vehicles would have to slow down even if they did not have the technology needed to follow the speed limit.

The other thing technology would ensure is a safe distance between cars. Again, the newer models have a way to set the constant distance between you and the car in front. It would still be up to the driver in the older model to maintain the space between the driver and the car ahead.

What would this do? Firstly, the number of police assigned to traffic could be put to better use. There would be a significant drop in accidents, deaths, and injuries, as well as in insurance rates. We would feel safer walking on the streets. No more speeding tickets. Less ambulance trips to the hospitals.

As cars become more automated and truly autonomous, we would not even have to own cars. We’d call them up, and they would take you where you want to go and pick you up when you told them to. No worries about being side-wiped or hitting cars in front or being hit from behind, as the cars of tomorrow would have even more sensors than today to ensure that the lane is open and can make the change safely.

Just as was done with seat belts, we need to get our governments to change laws so that the vehicles automatically follow the set speed limits. Let your local government know how you feel.

And yes, there would be an outcry for losing the independence that drivers have today, but there would be no opposition to more access to medical care and cheaper cost of living.

Jorma Ikavalko

Alliston

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