Slowing down for safer streets
Reduced speed limits coming to select areas this summer
The City of Vaughan is taking another step forward in its commitment to advance road safety by reducing speed limits in five neighbourhoods and along 15 City roadways this summer. Approved by Council on March 21, 2023 (PDF), speed limits in these select areas will be reduced from 50 kilometres per hour to 40 kilometres per hour. Installation of the new speed limit signs will begin in July and is anticipated to be completed by August.
The reduced speed limits will come into effect in one block in each ward (PDF):
- Ward 1 – neighbourhood bounded by Teston Road, Keele Street, Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street
- Ward 2 – neighbourhood bounded by Highway 7, Pine Valley Drive, Steeles Avenue and Kipling Avenue. Speed limit reductions will not be implemented on Islington Avenue and Highway 407.
- Ward 3 – neighbourhood bounded by Teston Road, Weston Road, Major Mackenzie Drive and Pine Valley Drive
- Ward 4 – neighbourhood bounded by Major Mackenzie Drive, Bathurst Street, Rutherford Road and Dufferin Street
- Ward 5 – neighbourhood bounded by Centre Street, Bathurst Street, Steeles Avenue and Dufferin Street. Speed limit reductions will not be implemented on Clark Avenue.
And on the following 15 City roadways (PDF):
- Ansley Grove Road – from Blue Willow Drive to Chancellor Drive
- Arrowhead Drive
- Avro Road
- Binscarth Crescent
- Condotti Drive
- Freedom Trail
- Golden Forest Road – from Marieta Place to Golden Forest Road
- Green Acres Road
- Hawkview Boulevard
- Maurier Boulevard
- Nimbus Place
- Rose Green Drive
- St. Padre Pio Gardens
- Sungold Court
- Treelawn Boulevard
Reducing speed limits is the next step in the City’s comprehensive Speed Limit Policy. Approved by Council on June 22, 2021 (PDF), the policy sets and adjusts appropriate speed limits throughout the City’s street network to continue to help ensure a safe community for all road users, including motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, and to address growing urbanization.
Evidence suggests that lowering speed limits, especially in residential areas, can effectively reduce the risk of severe injury or even death due to a motor vehicle collision.
The Speed Limit Policy is exclusive to municipal roads and focuses on four areas within Vaughan’s road network: rural roadways, built-up/urban areas (including school zones), public laneways and select neighbourhoods. The first step in the policy was to reduce speed limits in all school zone areas in Vaughan, which was completed in September 2021, then in all public laneways, which was implemented in December 2021. In September 2022, speed limits in five select neighbourhood areas, one within each ward, were reduced from 50 kilometres per hour to 40 kilometres per hour.
For more information on the City’s Speed Limit Policy, visit vaughan.ca/SpeedPolicy.
The Speed Limit Policy is part of the MoveSmart Mobility Management Strategy (MoveSmart), which directs the City’s vision to provide a transportation system that is safer, more efficient and sustainable. The strategy will be reviewed and updated every five years. Progress on its implementation is reported annually to Council. For more information, visit vaughan.ca/MoveSmart.
#SlowDownVaughan
Furthering the City’s commitment to road safety, free #SlowDownVaughan signs (PDF) are available for you to download and place on lawns and windows to encourage drivers in your neighbourhood to slow down. They are also available for pickup at local community centres (excluding Garnet A. Williams Community Centre as it remains temporarily closed for renovations) and Vaughan Public Libraries’ three Resource Libraries – Bathurst Clark, Civic Centre and Pierre Berton.
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