The Kimberley Safety Group is seeking an increased police presence in their community to help enforce local speed limits.
The group is made up of local residents concerned with excessive speeding and community safety in Kimberley, one of the hamlets within the broader municipality of Grey Highlands.
They previously lobbied for speed limits to be reduced along Grey Road 13, the main road passing through the hamlet, and in 2021 Grey County council reduced the speed limit through the village core to 40 km/h, with a buffer zone of 60 km/h to slow drivers down from the 80 km/h speed limit on other sections of the road.
In a presentation to the Grey Highlands police services board Jan. 25, Kimberley Safety Group member Michele Chaban suggested that an increased police presence in the area would help to enforce local speed limits and improve safety for visitors and residents.
“When reflecting on how we can reinforce the needed changes in traffic management, leading to enhanced public safety, our answer was that we work with the municipality, the county, the community and have the police act as a catalytic reminder to take it slower as you drive through a place where people live,” Chaban said.
“So here's our ask: … a spectrum of OPP enforcement of our current speed limits by their presence, through public education, through verbal warning, and ticketing. In the 20 years plus years that I've lived here, the OPP used to sit in the restaurant parking lot, and people would just automatically slow down – they didn't have to do anything more than just be present.”
Fellow group member Martha Rogers said she has witnessed extreme examples of speeding in the community.
"I would say I walk several times a week through the village from my house," she said. "[Recently], I witnessed two vehicles travelling at 95 km/h going through the village 40 km/h zone," she said. "It was frightening and it is not something that can be tolerated."
Chaban highlighted numerous aspects of the community that lead to speeding and decreased public safety.
“Kimberley is in the heart of the Beaver Valley, located on a very complex section of Grey Road 13,” said group member Michele Chaban. “Its entry from the north is along a large sweeping ‘S’ curve, [and it’s] entry from south is down a steep, long hill.”
“[There’s] a very long hill from the top of the escarpment leading into Kimberley,” she said. “The problem is that some people coming down the hill are coming into town [and] don't know that there's a town, and they just keep escalating because it's the flatter part of the road.”
Chaban highlighted that Kimberley is used for a number of outdoor recreational activities, which can lead to congestion on the roads within the hamlet.
“Over 6000 cyclists take to the road for recreation in this area every four months from early spring to late fall. A great number of them arrive in Kimberley as a chosen destination,” she said.
Chaban also pointed out that there are limited pedestrian walkways at some of the area’s popular outdoor recreation sites.
“Access to the trail to Old Baldy, there's no parking around there, so everybody parks on the side of the road,” she said. “It makes it very difficult when pedestrians come out from the trails between the cars [and] there's no visibility for the pedestrians.”
Grey Bruce OPP Detachment Commander Debra Anderson expressed sympathy for the group’s wish to make Kimberley’s roadways safer, but she did not view additional police presence as appropriate.
“We are certainly aware of the concern that the community of Kimberley has for the traffic flow through there,” Anderson said.
“There's been no motor vehicle collisions in Kimberley in the last five years, according to our data, and when the concerns were first raised when I came to this detachment we did put up a speed spy device, and it was up for a week,” she said. “I believe that was in 2020, and [the data] showed there was not enough speeding that would warrant what we call a focus patrol.”
Anderson also said that it would be unsustainable for her detachment to maintain a prolonged presence in Kimberley, and suggested that there are other methods for increasing road safety.
“Although we're not short handed, it would be unsustainable to have an officer there every day, just based on our calls for service. So although policing is, I believe, one aspect of dealing with the issue, I don't think it's the only aspect of it – some different things you [can] do for traffic calming might be well worth it.”
Police services board member Stewart Halliday suggested a number of alternative options that might be pursued.
“One of the things that I think the Grey County council should consider at both the north end and the south end is the big word ‘slow’ painted on the road,” he said. “I know we're a four season community and you're not going to get the benefit of it necessarily in the winter, but in the summer a six-foot ‘slow’ coming into the town, I think, could be done.”
Halliday also suggested installing balusters displaying the speed limit in the roadway, as well as speed bumps on either side of town.
The board moved to receive Kimberley Safety Group’s presentation for information, but demonstrated interest in helping the group continue to improve road safety.
“Once we get to the spring, is there an opportunity to get more new data at [the new speed limit], since that's been reduced?” said Grey Highlands mayor Paul McQueen. “Maybe there are certain times that people are speeding more than others, and maybe that could help with enforcement.”
