foreword - City of Pickering

City of Pickering January 2003
Safer Streets Traffic Management Strategy
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6.0 TRAFFIC CALMING
6.1 INTRODUCTION TO TRAFFIC CALMING
Traffic calming is defined by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) in their December
1998, Canadian Guide to Neighbourhood Traffic Calming as follows:
“Traffic calming is the combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects
of motor vehicle use, alter driver behaviour and improve conditions for non-motorized street
users.”
In order to achieve this objective, traffic calming usually involves the installation of a
combination of the following roadway design characteristics or features:
changes to the vertical and/or horizontal alignment of the roadway;
changes to the traveled portion of the roadway through pavement and/or lane narrowing;
changes to the roadways surface texture and/or colour; and
installing visual treatments that may include entrance gateways, trees and/or ground
cover.
By redesigning roadways from the wide, long and straight sections of pavement to narrower,
shorter sections, the flow of traffic can be better managed. Motorists are required, through the
implementation of a variety of measures, to modify their driving behaviour to that, which allows
their presence as a guest in a neighbourhood. Traffic calming encourages people to consider
other travel modes such as walking, cycling and transit. Of foremost importance traffic calming
allows a street to return to a multi-purpose facility where physical access is permitted yet close
community social links can be formed.
6.1.1 Background
Traffic calming began in the Netherlands in the early 1970’s and has since become very
commonplace throughout much of Europe. Traffic calming is a relatively new trend in
North America and particularly Canada but has grown dramatically in popularity in
recent years. The City of Pickering was one of the first municipalities in Ontario to
initiate traffic calming pilot projects on its streets with the installation of “speed humps”
in 1996.
Traffic calming can improve the safety of a neighbourhood by reducing the main concern
of residents which is the operating speed of vehicles. Lower operating speeds on
neighbourhood streets may result in the occurrence of fewer and less severe collisions as
cyclists, pedestrians and other motorists have more time to react to sudden situations. Of
added benefit, traffic calming is also self-enforcing in nature thereby reducing or
eliminating the dependency on police enforcement to ensure compliance.
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