Paradise councillors say more needs to be spent to curb speeding

By Mark Squibb

Members of Paradise council floated several ideas on how to curb speeding when the issue arose at the committee of the whole meeting last week.
The conversation kicked off when councillor Tommy Maher presented the infrastructure department report, which noted that staff were reviewing the Town’s traffic calming measures.
Councillor Larry Vaters noted other municipalities have made traffic calming request forms available for residents and wondered if Paradise might consider something similar.
Maher said the matter could be reviewed by staff.
Councillor Glen Carew then asked what the Town had budgeted for traffic calming for the current year.
That amount, said Maher, was $50,000.
Carew then explained how if a resident brought a traffic concern to council’s attention, the Town would collect traffic data in the vicinity of the complaint. Carew said council used to be privy to those reports, but that is no longer the case. He asked whether the reports could be added to the infrastructure department’s report for council’s perusal.
“When we moved to the committee of the whole format, we moved some items that were regularly provided but did not necessarily add value,” said Maher. He added that staff may post the reports to the website for the public to view.
Carew then said that the previous night an accident had occurred on Archibald Drive, and that he had spoken with residents following the accident.
“The question I was asked onsite was that data collectors had been there the last couple of weeks, and so what was the results of that? And of course, if council had this ‘dashboard’ as part of the departmental report, it may be easier to answer some of those questions,” said Carew.
The councillor went on to say that traffic has become more of an issue in town.
“I’m going to suggest that we should be looking to budget significantly more for traffic calming for 2026, and of course in years after that,” said Carew, adding that he was certain every member of councillor has fielded traffic concerns from residents and businesses from every part of town.
“This is not just a problem in Paradise,” Carew said. “This is a problem all over the northeast Avalon, and when we went to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, it was a common theme of municipalities across the country.”
Deputy Mayor Kimberley Street concurred that the need for traffic calming measures has increased in recent years. She said the province recently implemented a speed camera program to curb speeding.
“If people start getting some really big tickets and they get hit in the pocketbook, they’ll realize they have to slow down,” said Street.
Councillor Patrick Martin said he fully supported budgeting extra money for traffic calming measures, although ultimately it would be the council of the day’s decision as the next budget will be delivered after the October municipal election.
Councillor Deborah Quilty, meanwhile, said a heavier police presence would also go a long way to curb speeding.
“If people know the RNC are in Paradise, guess what? I think that will slow down some of these offenders big time,” said Quilty.
Vaters said traffic calming measures are reactive measures and it’s going to take an “enormous cultural shift” of attitudes towards speeding before the issue can truly be resolved.
“There’s no need to be speeding,” said Vaters. “You might make up 10 seconds, or 30 seconds, on where you’re getting to, but what are the potential ramifications of your actions? And that’s what people need to consider.”