At the beginning on the year, Langley City staff installed traffic calming at the intersection of 201A Street and Michaud Crescent as shown in the following picture.
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| Traffic calming at Michaud Crescent and 201A Street. Select image to enlarge. |
City staff has been monitoring the speed of westbound traffic through that intersection for some time. This allows for a good comparison of motor vehicle speeds through the intersection before and after traffic calming was implemented.
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| 85 percentile speed westbound at Michaud Crescent and 201A Street, September 10, 2017 thru September 15, 2017. Select chart to enlarge. |
In September, the typical speed through the intersection was 50km/h.
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| 85 percentile speed westbound at Michaud Crescent and 201A Street, January 28, 2018 thru February 7, 2018. Select chart to enlarge. |
After traffic calming was installed, the typical speed dropped between 30km/h and 40km/h.
This is a significant reduction in speed. The following chart shows the likelihood of a fatality when someone walking in struck by someone driving a car.
The risk of pedestrian death when hit by a car or light truck, by age of victim. No surprise, #seniors are at greatest risk. V/@Com_Mobility pic.twitter.com/B24D22GIux— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) June 26, 2017
As a note, traffic engineers use the 85 percentile speed when designing road infrastructure, and when measuring speed. According to the BC Ministry of Transportation the 85 percentile speed is “the speed at or below which 85 percent of the motorists are traveling.” No matter what design measures that are put in place, some people will choose to drive recklessly.
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