Speed limit reduced on Horseshoe Hill Road
By ALAN LICZYK Staff Reporter

After receiving a petition from many area residents on Horseshoe Hill Road, Caledon council recently agreed to their request for a lower speed limit on that road.

The new speed limit for Horseshoe Hill Road from Charleston Sideroad to Highway 9 will be 70 kilometres per hour, a 10 km-h reduction from the previous unposted speed limit of 80 km-h.

Council also wants to lower the speed limit on Winston Churchill Boulevard to 70 km-h from 80 km-h between Beech Grove Sideroad/Wellington Road #22 and Caledon/East Garafraxa Town Line, a boundary road it shares with the Town of Erin. Caledon will ask Erin to cooperatively change its bylaw.

Caledon's public works and engineering department conducted an engineering review of the speed limits for these two roads and recommended the reduction to 70 km-h for both.

Councillor Doug Beffort said there was an awful lot of work done by Craig Campbell, director of public works and engineering, his staff and Caledon OPP.

Beffort added there's a tremendous amount of through traffic on their rural roads travelling at high speeds with no regard for local residents.

"Craig's done the work and we have to validate that," he said.

Beffort wants to change the mentality of drivers. He noted some drive so fast it's hard to get their licence plate number.

Campbell commented there's a need to build better arterial roads. As for the speeders, he explained if people can't get the licence plate number, they can still get a description of the car and report it to the OPP. The OPP will then be able to look for that car next time.

Campbell agreed people are exceeding the speed limits, but no particular locations are glaring.

Councillor Allan Thompson said as much as he agreed with Campbell's report he can't see it as being effective.

Campbell replied traffic engineering and traffic calming have to balance one another.

"There is no magic wand solutions," he said.