Winnipeg speed limit pilot posting positive results

“As you're driving through your neighbourhood, you shouldn’t have to think about what the speed limit is ... there’s houses, there’s people, it’s 30. Let’s just keep it simple.”

Residents living in one of a few Winnipeg neighbourhoods testing out lower speed limits say they’re already noticing an improvement in their freedom of movement in the area.

Morgan Willacy, a resident in the Bourkevale area of the city, said walkability in the neighbourhood is already better.

“It just makes life a little easier,” she said Saturday afternoon while taking her dog for a walk.

In March speed limits in Tyndall Park South and Bourkevale dropped to 30 kilometres per hour, while Richmond West and Worthington neighbourhoods fell to 40 km/h as part of a year-long pilot project looking at the future of city-wide residential speed limits.

Daevid Ramey, a fellow Bourkevale resident, launched a campaign to advocate for lower speeds in the area in the midst of the pandemic when he noticed more people were spending time outdoors.

“We noticed even though there are people on the street and lots of people walking, cars weren’t slowing down. And if you were to confront them out of feeling unsafe they would say that they were going the speed limit and it’s their right to do that,” he said.

“And so we thought, let’s change that.”

At the time of the pilot’s launch, the city said the goal was to determine whether changing the speed limit in residential areas changed how fast vehicles actually travelled and whether the change affects neighbourhood livability.