Township of Blandford-Blenheim Council heard from concerned residents in regards to issues with speeding on River Road in Plattsville during its regular Council meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
Plattsville resident Alan Dick, spoke on behalf of some of his fellow residents about the speeding that has been taking place on River Road, specifically the stretch between Young Street and Township Road 14.
“It’s a fairly short stretch, about a kilometre long, but we’re not looking at the entire area, really about 750 metres of the road towards Young Street. The river is quite close there and it’s a narrow road. There is metal guard rail on the west side in one section, but it kind of limits an escape route for pedestrians and cyclists; if there’s going to be a collision with a car, it would be hard for them to get over the barricade to avoid it,” said Dick. “There’s trees and bush areas on either side of the road, which is beautiful especially in the summer months, but it does greatly reduce visibility. …There’s also issues at night with the lack of street lights or functioning street lights in that area, which sometimes greatly reduces nighttime visibility.”
The former police officer said that as the Township grows, both pedestrian and vehicular traffic seems to be getting heavier along the stretch and that speeding appears to have become an issue. He also noted that it could partially be attributed to the fact that the road was paved a few years back.
“We all know that when you pave the road, the speeds go up… it’s human nature and people are going to drive faster on paved roads. Traffic’s getting heavier, both pedestrian and vehicular. There’s more people walking, including parents of small children and older people; we’ve seen more mobility scooters on the road, more bicycles on the road, and because there are kids going to the river to fish, they’re crossing the road a lot,” said Dick. “… Having walked there and in speaking to the residents there, it is more of a problem in the summer months. There’s also a higher use of ATVs lately with the passing of legislation allowing them to ride on the road. That’s fine and dandy, I certainly have no issues with that; for the most part, people with ATVs are very responsible, but it only takes one.”
Dick continued to say that while the speed signs have been lowered to 40 km/hr in the area, it’s hard to enforce given that there aren’t many places for a police cruiser to sit and hide, and that the amount of traffic doesn’t necessarily warrant having an officer out there.
As far as what they could do to help mitigate the issue, the resident said that having permanent speed humps or bumps aren’t exactly practical given that in the winter, ploughs would have a hard time avoiding them and could not only damage them, but the plough itself.
Dick also said that the road is too narrow to put in an island or chicanes, and that it would cost a lot of money to install either option. What he did say could be a reasonable solution are removal speed bumps.
“They’re usually made of some sort of rubberized material and they can be put in for the spring and summer months, and taken out early fall just before the snow flies so they’re out of the way for the snowploughs,” he said. “From speaking to people that are familiar with these things, they can be put in by the road crew which are on staff anyhow, and they’re running between $100 and $300 for each section.”
Dick said that ideally there would be two to cover the width of the road to cover both lanes, and that for the 750 metre stretch, they would likely need four or five sections for a total of eight to ten removable speed bumps.
He said that between the cost of the traffic calming features and signage, it would be realistically cheaper than other options.
Following Dick’s presentation, Councillor Bruce Banbury added that the other benefit would be that, if speeding did improve on the road, the removable speed bumps could also be moved and utilized in other speeding hot spots if need be.
Mayor Mark Peterson also added that he’s spoken to the Township’s Director of Public Works and asked that staff install flashing speed signs that use radar to detect vehicle speeds and record them for data purposes. He noted that because they already have them on hand, they can be installed as soon as possible, and in a few weeks when he goes to his Police Services Board meeting, he can bring the data there and potentially get police presence on the road during peak travel times.
There were also discussions surrounding collecting the speed sign data throughout specific times of the year such as the spring, summer and fall.
With that being said, Peterson mentioned that if they did decide to purchase the removable speed bumps and they were effective in slowing down traffic, they could look at installing permanent speed humps.
Noting that there may not be enough room in the budget this year, Council ultimately voted to direct Township staff to prepare a report with a cost analysis of the various traffic calming measures that were brought up throughout the presentation.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
