The City of Windsor is taking an innovative approach to traffic calming.
A city committee has approved a one-year pilot project that will see GPS data collected from streetlights throughout Windsor to be used for traffic studies in problem areas.
"I think what it does is move us a little more into the 20th century technology wise without putting the rubber hose on the road to see how many vehicles go over versus, now, the street light data service which looks terrific," says Cllr. Gary Kaschak.
He says it's a big step forward in streamlining the current process, which involves deploying traffic monitoring machines and rubber tubes across the roadway and adds factors like cut-through traffic will be far easier to measure.
"When you've got GPS data coming in that's measuring the amount of cut through traffic when people are going from point A to point B and you know there's a couple different ways to get there, but when you go down a side street, it really helps administration and the traffic division and also councillors understand some of the challenges we've got,” says Kaschak.
He says the technology is already in place — now it's time to take advantage.
"It's something that's just going to be expanded a little bit more. I think any tool that we can utilize to mitigate some issues on the roads with speed, traffic and bumper to bumper anywhere are very helpful moving forward."
The one-year subscription to the GPS streetlight service is going to cost the city just over $66,000. The funding still has to be approved at the council level.