A policy that could drop the speed limit in residential neighbourhoods to 40 km/h is returning to Windsor City Council.
Council deferred the item for more information earlier this year and it will return along with an overall traffic calming policy for the city Monday.
Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt is one of several councillor who have backed the move from the committee level. He hopes his fellow councillors see the benefit of having people slow down in residential areas.
Some areas may see the speed lowered by as little as 10 km/h and some as much as 20 km/h, but Holt says data shows a pedestrian's chance of survival more than doubles with every km/h the speed limit is lowered.
"If little Johnny gets hit by a car going 60 km/h he will most likely die," he says. "If little Johnny gets hit by a driver travelling 40 km/h his chances of survival increase by 64 per cent."
Holt says speeding in residential areas is the number one complaint in the city of Windsor.
"It's looking at it holistically across the entire city instead of just randomly neighbourhood by neighbourhood as determined by the residents of that street," he says.
He says some oppose the change because, "people will speed anyways."
That's not a valid reason to ignore a move that can make the streets we live along safer, according to Holt.
"Just implying that people will not follow the posted speed limit is rather insulting," he says. "The police are out there enforcing the speed limits as posted now."
Windsor Police Service didn't endorse the move, but told AM800 News it will support and enforce any initiative that promotes public safety at council's direction.
Chief Pam Mizuno will attend the meeting to answer potential questions about enforcement.
Deputy Chief of Operations Jason Bellaire told AM800 News the cost of public education and possible redeployment for enforcement would be minimal for Windsor police.
If approved, new signs will cost the city an estimated $734,000.
City council gets underway Monday at 12 p.m.