The first few days of Guelph Police Service’s traffic enforcement blitz has resulted in some positive and not-so-positive results, says an officer in Traffic Services.
Through the almost two-week-long Project Corridor, Traffic Services seeks to enforce and educate unsafe driving, cycling and pedestrian behaviours along one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares.
Acting Traffic Sgt. Dan Mosey said Traffic Services is targeting different types of infractions on different days, including distracted driving, speeding, following too close, unsafe turns, disobeying signs and the running of amber and red lights.
On Wednesday afternoon, officers concentrated on enforcing the speed limit on Gordon Street, during which time Traffic Service’s laser speed-measuring device was moved along the corridor throughout the day.
“It shouldn’t matter whether we are here or not, people should be obeying the speed limits,” said Mosey.
In total, 21 speeding charges were laid Wednesday as part of the project, as well as one insurance charge.
In addition, a driver involved in a collision at the intersection of Gordon St. and Arkell Rd. was charged with careless driving and a cyclist was charged with Ride in Crosswalk after a collision at Gordon St. and College Ave.
Traffic Services said in Tweets Wednesday evening that a Guelph Transit bus with 22 passengers aboard was stopped after being clocked 22 kilometres over the speed limit at Gordon St. and Stone Rd.
Drivers exhibited more positive behaviour earlier in the week.
On Monday, Traffic Services used an unmarked van to allow them an elevated view into other vehicles on the road in an attempt to find people driving while distracted by their cell phones.
“We must have looked in the windows of hundreds of cars, but we only had two offenders,” said Mosey.
According to statistics released by Guelph Police Service earlier this month, so far this year 149 collisions have been investigated along Gordon St. Between Waterloo Ave. and Clair Road, 44 of which included personal injuries.
That number is in addition to 111 incidents reported to the Collision Reporting Centre.
Guelph Police Service is conducting Project Corridor in partnership with University of Guelph Police, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health and the City of Guelph.
Guelph Police Chief Jeff DeRuyter said Wednesday that an increase in residential housing along the corridor has resulted in an increase in vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
“When we get people that are going 90 kilometres an hour in a 50 or 60 zone, it has a very negative impact on community safety,” said DeRuyter.
“People are just in a rush. We need to get people to slow down,” he added.
With Project Corridor running until Nov. 17, Mosey said it is important to drive home safe driving behaviours before the winter weather hits the area.
Speed limits are intended to denote the maximum speed under ideal road conditions, said Mosey. If conditions are less than ideal, drivers should reduce their speed as appropriate to conditions.
“The first snow fall of every year is a disaster. It’s like people forget how to drive,” he said.
