MONTREAL -- A study by two researchers concluded that reducing speed limits on Quebec's road network has had a beneficial effect on the risk of serious and fatal accidents.
Professor Marie-Soleil Cloutier of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and École des sciences de la gestion (ESG) Department of Urban and Tourism Studies professor Ugo Lachapelle at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) drew on data from the Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) between 2006 and 2013 on roads across the province.
The study shows a downward trend in the number of collisions on all road segments analyzed in rural and suburban areas, which corresponded to the improvement in road safety in recent years.
Segments with 80 or 90 KPH speed limits and a 20 KPM reduction in the speed limit showed the largest decreases in collisions and average speed.
In the UQAM study, Cloutier specified that the greater the speed reduction, and the higher the previous speed, the greater the decrease in collisions.
Lachapelle noted that the research methodology allowed for the analysis of speed changes on the network at different points in time and under different circumstances.
In his opinion, since there is no provincial policy on speed reduction, this approach can be applied to document the impacts and justify a more systematic policy.
The researchers observed that requests by municipalities to change speed limits on the Ministry of Transportation network have been increasing over the years.
The study was presented last month in the international publication: the Journal of Transport & Health.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 16, 2021.
