Mulmur action plan calms traffic, resident concerns

After hearing a plethora of speed related safety concerns from residents, Mulmur Township officials have come up with an action plan.

“I live in the area and I understand the problem,” said Councillor Greg Lloyd, adding that has heard concerns from residents who were looking for support from council. 

“So I took this on,” he said.

A sub-committee with councillor Keith Lowry, director of public works Jim Willmetts and clerk Kerstin Vroom was struck and with the help of the roads department they undertook a traffic study to measure speeds in areas of concern.

Data was collected in four problem areas, during one-week intervals and the data showed there is indeed an issue with excessive speeding. 

Two areas showed there is a very high rate of speeding: The River Road data showed 51 per cent of traffic is exceeding the speed limit and on the 10th Sideroad, west of Mansfield, 91 per cent of traffic is speeding.

On Prince of Wales Road, 34 per cent of vehicles are speeding, and 12.5 per cent of vehicles on 20th Sideroad are speeding. 

Additionally, several vehicles were recorded going more than 16 km/hr above the posted speed limits. For example, on River Road, east of Centre Road, 3,142 vehicles were recorded and 1,596 were speeding (217 were going more than 16 km/hr over the speed limit). The data also identified the best enforcement times.  

Then two public meetings were held, one with Dufferin OPP.

“Everybody got a chance to speak about their concerns and their experiences and they had the attention of the commander of the OPP,” said Lloyd. 

He said they took suggestions from the public and developed ideas as a committee and compiled them into an action plan. 

Actions were divided into categories. There were things that could be done at the township level, the county level and at the enforcement level, by the OPP. Lloyd said residents also have a role to play. The OPP wants residents to report speeding and dangerous driving so police can compile their own data.

One tangible action to come out of the plan is that Mulmur Township has added $20,000 worth of paid duty policing on weekends, above the regular level of enforcement. They also purchased a portable radar sign.

Through a combined effort, speed reduction tools like rumble strips, flashing lights, the creation of community safety zones, no-stopping zones and signage are being installed, if they haven’t been already.

There are a lot of concerns around excessive noise from vehicles, especially motorcycles. Lloyd said the action plan does not address noise specifically but the issues are linked because the faster a vehicle is travelling, the louder it is.

He said it has been a welcome plan and residents are happy with it. 

“We are going to continue to finalize these actions and I think with what we have going on, we will have some pretty good success,” said Lloyd. 

He said the committee has been working with the police services board so there should be continuity with future councils. 

Call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or *OPP (*677 on a cellphone) for speeding and non-urgent matters.