PROGRAM - Citizen Led Traffic Calming

Road Safety Starts With YouThe City of Kitchener, Ontario has worked with it's residents to create a Neighbourhood Strategy and Implementation Plan. The Neighbourhood Strategy recommendations; called Love My Hood encourages residents to take a lead role in making their neighbourhood great, with a commitment that City of Kitchener staff will help them every step along the way.

A common theme heard throughout the consultation process for the Neighbourhood Strategy is the desire to have more traffic calming tools that residents can lead, in order to bring more awareness to pedestrian safety, foster creativity and create a sense of place.

One result, the Resident Led Traffic Calming Program – makes it easier for residents to lead improvements to public spaces, by creating an easy steps guide that residents can follow and work with the city on installing creative traffic calming measures, such as painted crosswalks, intersections and more.

Taking back your neighbourhood is big in the UK, and is known as "road witching".

The general idea is to condition drivers to expect the unexpected on certain roads, then, by continually changing things, drivers unconsciously start slowing down in those areas. Brilliant.