Lowered highway speed limit isn’t alleviating safety concerns

Highway Speed Limit_B1J3958
Rocky View County would like to see the 80 km/h stretch of Highway 1 east of the city ending at Highway 791 returned to 110km/h limit. Photo by Jeremy Broadfield

Alberta Transportation to conduct safety study on accident prone highway

Highway Speed Limit_B1J3958
Rocky View County would like to see the 80 km/h stretch of Highway 1 east of the city ending at Highway 791 returned to 110km/h limit. Photo by Jeremy Broadfield

Rocky View County (RVC) has requested that he province return the speed limit on Highway 1 East of Chestermere to Highway 791 back to 110 km/h.

“We have been hearing from residents that the lower speed of 80 [km/h] is actually creating a little bit more danger in terms of people not following the speed limit,” said RVC General Manager Byron Riemann.

Although the corridor of highway has previously been known to be collision prone, RVC has asked for a highway safety study.

The study would ensure that the changed speed limit of 110 km/h to 80 km/h in 2017 has helped to improve safety and driving conditions on the previously problematic roadway.

The speed limit was changed last year after a fatal collision took place in 2015 involving a Chestermere resident.

“There are no plans to increase the speed limit at this time,” said Communications Advisor of Alberta Transportation Wayne Wood.

“It’s part of the commitment that we made when we lowered the speed limit,” Wood added.

The province is planning to conduct a speed study later this year.

The study will record speeds through the collision prone stretch of highway to determine whether the current speed limit is appropriate or not, Wood said.

However, no additional information will be released regarding the speed study, Wood added, drivers won’t know when the study is being conducted, or for how long.

“We certainly don’t have any plans at this time to increase the speed limit,” he said.

Riemann added that, there have been instances where drivers are following the posted speed limit, but have been approached by vehicles who are still traveling at 110 km/h.

“Not following the speed limit leads to different situations in terms of potential rear ends, passing illegally, or just dangerous driving situations,” Riemann said.

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In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, Anchor Media Inc encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this site and downloading the Rogue Radio App. Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to info@anchormedia.ca

6 Comments

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  • As someone who accesses Highway 1 from RR281 almost daily I definitely feel safer with the reduced speed limit. I suspect commuters to/from the east of this stretch of Highway 1 do not like having to slow down. Hopefully, regular enforcement will help people to observe the posted speed limit. I support keeping the lower limit.

  • What a ridiculous argument. There are stretches with reduced speed limits on highways everywhere. People just need to pay attention and observe the posted speed limits. Hopefully rigorous enforcement and some hefty fines will help people learn to change their behaviour and observe the lower speed limit here. It is definitely safer for people turning onto Highway 1 from or accessing RR281 and Highway 791 with the reduced speed limit. This is all about commuters from east of here not wanting to slow down.

  • #1 Highway is the main thoroughfare across the Country and the speed limit should be restored to 110 km/hr. If the intersection is too dangerous, even with the recent improvements, then it should be closed and traffic from highway 791 and RR281 re-routed to access #1 from the safe overpass at Chestermere, a short distance to the west.

  • I would like to see better signage coming up to and out of the zone. Bright flashing signs, something saying speeds will be enforced etc.the province could do a much better job on alerting people and grabbing attention.

  • I travel this highway back and forth to work multiple of times in a week. I often note that many do not slow down to the lowered speed and are often creating a more unsafe environment for those of us who are slowing down. Or you have people slamming on their brakes last minute creating a safety hazard.

  • This was misguided from the beginning. The reason the speed limit hasn’t created a safer area is because this wasn’t the root cause of the danger, just politicians wanting to look like they’ve done something, even if it’s the wrong thing.
    Return the highway to highway speeds, address the problem.


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