On September 1, 2022 the posted maximum speed on Hale Street in London, Ontario was reduced from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. On October 4, 2024 the City of London erected four Speed Display Boards (SDBs) along Hale Street between Trafalgar and Dundas Streets. Gorski Consulting examined the functioning and data from one of these boards located in front of the residence at 361 Hale Street, which is located about 200 metres north of Trafalgar Street.
Background
A previous article on this testing entitled “Motor Vehicle Speed Detection in London Ontario Canada” was posted to the Gorski Consulting website on October 11, 024. This article described the study and provided results from one of the 2-hour video sessions from October 5, 2024. Subsequently the data from 2 additional, 2-hour, video sessions was analysed and this will be reported in the current article. The three analysed sessions are described below:
- Saturday, October 5, 2024, between 2050 and 2250 hours.
- Monday, October 14, 2024, between 1500 and 1700 hours.
- Tuesday, October 15, 2024, between 1700 and 1900 hours.
Results
The results from these sessions showed the following with respect to the observed maximum speeds of northbound vehicles passing through the detection zone:
- Oct 5/24: Average Detected Maximum Speed in 87 observations = 54.02 km/h.
- Oct 14/24: Average Detected Maximum Speed in 147 observations = 53.90 km/h.
- Oct 15/24: Average Detected Maximum Speed in 112 observations = 55.74 km/h.
The percentage of vehicles travelling at 20 km/h or higher above the posted speed limit (i.e. 60 km/h or higher) was also noted:
- Oct 5/24: 13 of 87 observations or 14.94 %
- Oct 14/24: 16 of 147 observations or 10.88 %
- Oct 15/24: 28 of 112 observations or 25.00 %
It was also noted that there were only 2 observations, in all three sessions of 346 observations combined, where the maximum observed speed of a northbound vehicle was at 40 km/h or lower. Thus 99.42% of northbound motor vehicles were observed to be travelling above the posted maximum speed of 40 km/h. This result has taken place over two years after the maximum posted speed was reduced so it is difficult to argue that drivers needed more time to adjust to the change in posted speed.
Discussion
In the City of London, like in many cities, there is an increased number of speed camera installations which identify a speeding vehicle and a citation is sent to the vehicle owner. If such a speed camera was present along Hale Street essentially every moving motor vehicle could be cited for speeding. While road safety is affected by motor vehicle speed it is also important to document other exposure factors such as the numbers and characteristics of pedestrians, cyclists and characteristics of the road segment. It remains unknown what intentions the City of London has with the posting of the SDBs on Hale Street. Unfortunately the City of London has always been secretive in its operations and has never released any useful data to the public to support its actions.
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