Political U-turn kills plan to reduce speed limits in dozens of school zones on London’s busiest roads

London’s deputy mayor is defending council’s decision not to reduce speed limits next to dozens of schools in the city that are adjacent to major roadways.

On Tuesday, a majority of council rejected a recommendation by the Civic Works Committee that would have reduced speed limits by 10 km/hr in school zones along arterial roads during periods when students are usually present.

“These are your Oxford Streets, your Clarke Roads, your Highburys, your Commissioners, your Fanshawe Park Roads-- where we want traffic flowing,” Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis told CTV News. ”Frankly, [these roads] are where we want traffic to stay and not become cut through traffic in neighborhoods.”

However, council’s decision flies in the face of a recommendation from the Civic Works Committee based on a report by city staff that reads, “Expanding reduced school zone speed limits to major streets bolsters the city's commitment to improving road safety, particularly in areas with high pedestrian activity.”

The reduced speed limits would have been enforced during school hours, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday between September 1 and June 30.

If the recommendation had been approved, most of the school zones would have gone down to 40 km/h, but faster sections of Highbury Avenue, Oxford West, and Wellington South would have been reduced to 50 km/h and 60 km/h.

In 2016, city hall began lowering speed limits in school zones on residential streets to 40 km/hr.

That lower speed limit has since been expanded to entire neighbourhoods across the city.

Lewis suggested that most Londoners want a crackdown on all bad driving behaviours, and they don’t believe that slightly lowering speed limits in some school zones is the solution.

“They want traffic enforcement and that is why we approved in the [municipal] budget the hiring of 100 more police officers so that we can have traffic enforcement again,” Lewis added. “We're issuing 30,000 fewer tickets each year than we historically issued in London.”

Lewis also pointed to a situation that’s arisen in his own neighbourhood, a glut of road signage along Wavell Street.

Signs along Wavell Street in London (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

He worries about the additional speed limit signs contributing to areas where “sign pollution” is already a problem.

“This [speed limit] proposal was to spend $30,000 on signs. I think we need to follow the KISS principle. Keep it simple. Let drivers be able to absorb what is actually on the road signs in order for them to be effective,” he said.

London’s Vision Zero Road Safety Strategy has set an objective to eliminate all traffic related fatalities and severe injuries.