Cold Lake, AB – Cold Lake City Council will further debate what the “standard” speed limit should be throughout the city at a meeting to be held early next year.

A notice of motion to consider the initiative was brought forward by Councillor Vicky Lefebvre after hearing concerns about the speed limits from the public. The notice of motion requests that council consider lowering the standard speed limit from 50km/hr to 40km/hr or 30km/hr in residential and high-pedestrian areas.

“This is a conversation that is happening in many communities, and council made the decision that we will open it up for debate here as well,” Mayor Craig Copeland said. “Other communities have decided that 50 km/hr is not safe in residential zones, and have made the switch. There is a lot of data and information out there, so we’ve asked administration to gather that information and bring it back for a debate.”

The standard speed limit in Cold Lake is currently 50 km/hr. Changing the standard speed limit will not affect areas where the speed limit is faster or slower than the standard. School zones and playground zones will still be posted 30 km/hr and other roadways signed for higher speed limits – 60km/hr and 80km/hr zones within the city – could still exist.

“The City of Cold Lake’s speed data shows that, by and large, people are following speed limits, and we’ve heard that often speeding can be an issue of perception. This raises the question of whether or not a 50 km/hr speed limit is appropriate on residential roads,” Copeland said. “Since this topic seems to be a trend in the province, we’ve agreed to discuss the issue to hear what recent studies have said and what other the experiences of other communities have been, before deciding whether to move forward.”

The issue of lowering the standard speed limit will be brought to the February 15 Corporate Priorities Meeting for discussion.

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