CENTRAL MANITOULIN—Central Manitoulin council weighed a constituent’s request to lower the speed limit on 450 metres of White Church Road and turned it down in a recorded vote that saw only Mayor Richard Stephens and Councillor Angela Johnston supporting the request—despite Councillor Dale Scott having moved to put the change on the table.
Councillor Steve Shaffer led the charge on turning down the request by noting that the radar data from that location did not support the claim that there was excessive speeding taking place at that location. Councillor Scott pointed out that the average speed recorded at the proposed site was 44 km/hour and that barely one percent of those in the April data were speeding, rising to an average of 60 km/hour from June to July with five percent speeding.
“The data does not suggest that speeding is a problem,” he concluded, going on to suggest that stronger OPP enforcement would prove far more effective than a hard-to-enforce municipal bylaw. Councillors Derek Stephens, Rose Diebolt and Al Tribinevicius voiced similar concerns during the debate.
