City of Powell River Council has agreed with a recommendation to purchase a traffic speed monitor to gauge speed limit compliance on city streets.
Shehzad Somji, the city’s chief financial officer, reported to the city’s finance committee meeting in late June that speed monitoring has been conducted in a number of Powell River areas and streets. The monitoring had taken place from 2012 until this year.
Looking at the averages, vehicles in the 85th percentile were travelling just under 43 kilometres per hour (km/h), and in the 95th percentile, the recorded velocity averaged 47.3 km/h. The number of vehicles counted in this study was 331,280. Somji said the monitoring would continue.
As far as a speed monitor is concerned, Somji said he had spoken with Powell River RCMP Staff Sergeant Rod Wiebe, who indicated a Shield 15 Base Unit would be suitable. This is the same unit that the Insurance Corporation of BC watch patrol opted for in 2015.
The cost to purchase a complete unit with stand and battery packs is $7,363.01, plus taxes, for a total of $8,246.57. Somji said the recommendation was for the item to be included in the city’s 2016 capital budget.
Mayor Dave Formosa said the traffic-monitoring matrix shows that things are okay but the city has received many complaints about “hot spots” in the community. He said the plan would be to set the equipment up in these hot spots to provide citizens with a graphic reminder of their vehicle’s speed.
The RCMP auxiliary members can and will monitor the equipment, Formosa said.
“We think it’s a good way to deal with this without having to have so much police attention or changing speed limits,” he said. “We want to try this for a year or so.”
Formosa said he was asking Somji if the city could just go out and buy it to get the program going. “People have been asking for it,” Formosa said.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said one of the problem areas in town is Westview Avenue. She noticed that south of town, where a speed monitor was placed for traffic heading into the city, it slowed her down every time. “They work for me.”
Hathaway said she, like the mayor, would really like to find a way to come up with the funding to purchase a speed monitor this year.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman asked if the 2014 budget surplus could be used to purchase one of these units outright. Somji said this could be done.
The finance committee recommended to city council that a speed monitor be purchased from the 2014 budget surplus.
