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Road Safety & Vision Zero Plan

Steal This Idea: In Québec, A New Traffic Light Only Turns Green for Safe Drivers​

From link.

BrossardSpeedCameraLight_creditKalitec.jpg

A sign in Brossard, Quebec explains to drivers how the new traffic light in the background works: drive under 30 kilometers per hour (about 19 mph) and the light will turn green; go faster and the light will remain red. The text in the yellow speech bubble translates as "slow down for my safety." Courtesy of Kalitec.

The Canadian city of Brossard, located right across the St. Lawrence River from Montréal, has installed a new traffic light in a school zone that only turns green for safe drivers.

The light’s Québécois manufacturers call it the “feu de ralentissement éducatif” (educational traffic-calming light), or FRED.

The light is red by default, but turns green when an attached speed camera detects an approaching motor vehicle that’s driving under the speed limit.

“Across Canada, near school zones, people are asking for concrete measures to control speeding. This (technology) has not been accepted yet by the government, and we’re going to do it as a test,” Brossard’s mayor, Doreen Assaad, told StreetsblogMASS.

Mayor Assaad added that though it’s the first time it’s being tried in Canada, similar signals have been in widespread use across Europe for years.

The FRED light in Brossard is being tried out for a 90-day trial period on Rue Stravinski, a two-lane street that runs through a suburban residential area.

Before the light was installed, Mayor Assaad said that Rue Stravinski had average vehicle speeds of 40 km/h (25 mph). But in the past week, average speeds have dropped to 29 km/h (18 mph).

Unlike Massachusetts, Quebec also has automated enforcement cameras that will issue fines when they detect drivers who exceed speed limits or ignore red lights.

“Fines might be effective, but it’s effective after-the-fact,” says Mayor Assaad. “The beauty of FRED is we reward good behavior, and it’s immediate. It doesn’t record any private information, it just detects that the vehicle is coming and measures its speed. So it’s a carrot instead of a stick.”
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Mayor Assaad warned that the current FRED light can only be used in specific circumstances: it’s not capable of controlling traffic at intersections, and it only works on smaller roadways, with one lane in each direction.

But anyone who’s dealt with antisocial, dangerous drivers can probably imagine lots of possible applications for similar technology here.

Many traffic lights are already equipped with cameras, sensors, and wireless connections: imagine a citywide network of traffic signals that can detect a speeding driver, or someone parking illegally in a bus lane, to prioritize red lights for dangeous drivers across the entire city.

And while legislation to legalize “automated enforcement” cameras that would use cameras to issue civil fines for speeding and other traffic violations remains stalled in the State House, there’s nothing preventing cities from reprogramming traffic signals to make bad drivers spend more time staring at red lights.
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Can't see this accepted by some Toronto councillors, like Stephen Holyday and others.
 
I almost burst out laughing when the video panned out so we could see that it is placed on a street that is 5 car widths wide. Put a speed bump, chicane, anything is probably more effective that that. On top of the fact that it looks ridiculous, it seems it could be a serious safety issue if someone has to slam on the brakes and get rear ended or stomp on the gas having the opposite effect. Don't try to reinvent the traffic calming wheel, there are already many tried and true options that have been around for as long as people have cared enough.
 
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The Avenue Road safety initiatives motion from Councillor Saxe which lowers the speed limit, puts some protective barriers for pedestrians in place as soon as possible and initiates the study/reports which will lead to more permanent changes including
widened sidewalks and cycle tracks has passed Council unscathed.
 
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I feel like the way to get change is to set speed limits at 85th percentile, no ifs ands or buts. Want a lower speed? Change the physical roadway characteristics.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Aftermath,

How driver was able to prove his innocence after hitting girl​

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Wow. A good case for having a 30 km/hr speed limit on roads like that. (though also a good case in not having a 50 km/hr too). I'm surprised that no one mentions that, but instead go to speed bumps, which would be designed to stop people speeding - not going 40 km/hr.
 
Good lord, I can't imagine driving 40 on that street.

I think it is a failure of the anglosphere imagination that we go to speed bumps as the solution. I think they tend to just encourage people to race from one speedbump to the next. I think having some chicanes in that street would help quite a bit. Also, I having a rougher paving surface that makes driving faster than 30 seem unpleasant.
 
^ Is there any current use of chicanes in the GTA? Seems surprising to me - sure seems we aren’t even trying the idea as a pilot or test program.

- Paul
 
afransen said:
Good lord, I can't imagine driving 40 on that street.

I think it is a failure of the anglosphere imagination that we go to speed bumps as the solution. I think they tend to just encourage people to race from one speedbump to the next. I think having some chicanes in that street would help quite a bit. Also, I having a rougher paving surface that makes driving faster than 30 seem unpleasant.
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All the speed bump in front of my house has accomplished is to have large trucks shaking the house and cracking my plaster walls. The fix for that small residential street is to prevent its use as a diversion, increase the sidewalk width, and eliminate on-street parking. In many jurisdictions, before you’re allowed to register a car you must prove that you have somewhere to park it off the public road space.
 
crs1026 said:
^ Is there any current use of chicanes in the GTA? Seems surprising to me - sure seems we aren’t even trying the idea as a pilot or test program.

- Paul
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Yes, a fair few in fact; but overwhelmingly on side streets.

The pilot project for these was.... 1994! Had to look it up! , it was Balliol from Mt. Pleasant to Bayview.

Streetview from '21 shows the chicanes are still there:

1684325194657.png


1684325244876.png


An intersection treatment:

1684325302049.png


Different intersection, this time the approach to Balliol:

1684325384525.png


This one will be one of the original trees from the project:

1684325460993.png


Note the absence of stop signs at many, but not all treated intersections. That was intentional, to allow steady, but slow flow.

From this report:


We learn:

1684325788098.png
 
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