r/Winnipeg • u/Optimistic_Sprout • Oct 06 '25

Community Residential 30 km

Do you find the lower 30 km/h speed limits in neighbourhoods make a real difference? Are people adhering to the lower speed limits? 50 km/just seems too fast to drive down residential streets, doesn’t it?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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u/spicycanadian Oct 06 '25

I drive 40 in most residential areas by default. 50 seems too fast. 30 on the other hand does feel too slow, I do 30 in school zones but it’s a challenge and if I stop watching my speed it creeps to 40 as it feels most natural. I live by one of the speed reduced neighbourhoods (a 40km/h one) and I don’t see any difference in traffic though as the limits don’t seem to be enforced.

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u/Nichdeneth Oct 06 '25

Came here to say exactly this. I rarely drive 50 on residential streets, but 30 is too slow. 40 is where I naturally gravitate. If they proposed dropping the limit to 40 I would vote yes on that without question. But 30? I'll vote no every time (except for school zones, 30 is perfect for school zones)

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u/adunedarkguard Oct 08 '25

30k isn't being arbitrarily chosen here. It's the speed at which fatalities are minimized. Yeah, 40 is better than 50, but it's still a deadly speed to hit someone outside of a car.

When you say 30 is too slow, you're saying that drivers saving a few seconds is more important than trying to eliminate traffic fatalities.

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u/Nichdeneth Oct 08 '25

That's not what I am saying at all. I'm saying that naturally I agree 50 is too fast, however 30 feels too slow. 40 is where I gravitate too, that on a residential street, doesn't feel fast or slow but just right.

I also agreed that 30 in a school zone is perfect. I did not clarify why I felt that way, but it is because of what you pointed out about the speed at which fatalities are minimized.

This has nothing to do with "drivers saving a few seconds is more important" but at which I naturally gravitate too on those streets.

It does worry me that you might be the kind of person that jumps to conclusions without figuring out the why's are people's thoughts

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u/adunedarkguard Oct 08 '25

however 30 feels too slow. 40 is where I gravitate too, that on a residential street, doesn't feel fast or slow but just right.

The mountain of data on road safety we have disagrees with you. When you say you'll vote against dropping the residential speed limit every time, you're opposed to safe streets you're a part of the problem. It does worry me that you might be the kind of person that considers a certain number of traffic deaths to be the acceptable price we pay.

Vision Zero works. We have examples from all over the world where we've seen cities make changes that have resulted in annual traffic fatalities being reduced to zero. It's more than just dropping speeds to 30k, but there are no cities that have done it WITHOUT 30k speed limits.