Drivers reminded to slow down
TRAFFIC: One of three communities

By Carla Garrett STAFF WRITER
Friday September 08, 2006

Woodstock Sentinel-Review — WOODSTOCK -
Deb Ball recalls a car speeding down Finkle Street. Before it left the roadway, it flew through the air and hit a hydro pole, breaking it in half. The car, a Ford Mustang, landed upside down in a resident’s swimming pool, killing a 43-year-old passenger. That was the scene outside Ball’s Finkle Street home on Nov. 1, 2003. On Thursday, Ball watched vehicles slowing down as they approached a new electronic traffic calming sign on Finkle, just south of Spencer Street.

“It’s a really good reminder, even for me,” said Ball, watching dignitaries unveil the first of four signs across the city. The other signs are located at the city limit on Bower Hill Road, Huron Street, north of the Salvation Army and Lansdowne Avenue at John Davies.

For years, residents along Finkle Street have been concerned with speeders rolling down the hill between Parkinson Road and Spencer Street, said Oxford Community Police Service Chief Ron Fraser. Friday nights and weekdays between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. are the peak times for speeding in the 50 km/h zone, he added. “Someone was hitting close to 90 km/h at 11 p.m.,” Fraser said reviewing data collected by the sign over the past two weeks. The sign on Finkle Street logged about 30,000 vehicle speeds, with about 150,000 vehicle speeds logged between all four sign locations.
Speeds on Finkle averaged between 55 and 64 km/h. The signs display the speed limit and the message slow down when a vehicle exceeds the limit. The Lansdowne sign can also show a road bend graphic.

“It’s a persuasion tool more than an enforcement tool,” said city engineer David Creery, who pitched the idea of the traffic calming sign. But Fraser admits the sign is not going to slow everyone down.
“It will slow down the honest people going 50 to 60 km/h, but it’s not going to slow those going 90 km/h,” he said. “The only way to slow them down is traffic enforcement tickets.”

Woodstock Mayor Michael Harding said data collected on Bower Hill a couple years ago showed drivers slowing down when there was a sign. But he too said the signs are not the answer to all of the problems, but “the community wants to feel safe and this is a non-monetary way to address the community’s concerns.”

The city had initially budgeted for two signs, but found the money to buy two more, Harding said. The signs will not replace officer presence altogether, but will help police target the times they are most needed in those areas. Fraser said.

Woodstock is one of only three communities using this type of sign in Canada. Kelowna, B.C. and the Township of Guelph and Eramosa.

Carla Garrett STAFF WRITER
Friday September 08, 2006