Data from eight automatic speed reader boards in Langley City shows drivers are most likely to exceed the speed limit heading north along the stretch of 200th Street that runs past Nicomekl Elementary School.
A report presented to Langley City Council at the Monday, May 10 meeting found between 53rd and 50th Avenues, in a 50 km/h speed zone, the average northbound speed on 200th Street was 63 km/h and the “85th percentile speed” which calculates the highest 15 per cent of speeds was 72 km/h.
Information collected from eight speed reader boards (SRBs) rated speeding as an issue on six, based on the highest speeds recorded, while two were rated marginal.
Northbound 208th Street, north of 45A Avenue, has the second worst numbers, with a 50 km/h zoned recording an average speed of 59 km/h and and an 8th percentile speed of 68.
Third worst was southbound 200th Street between Fraser Highway and 56th Avenue, a 50 km/h zone with an 85th percentile of 66 km/h.
In the report, Engineering Technologist Cameron Perkin said on arterial roads like 200th Street, average vehicle speeds were found to be approximately 10 km/h above the speed limit “indicating that a large portion of traffic is consistently speeding in these areas.”
“Furthermore, 85th percentile vehicle speeds at all arterial road locations were at least 15 km/h above the speed limit, indicating that a relatively large portion of traffic is consistently travelling at speeds well above the speed limit,” Perkin wrote.
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“Speeds are quite high even with SRBs to notify motorists of their speed.”
SRBs are being relocated on a “semi-frequent basis” to get drivers to pay attention, the report noted.
Last year, Coun. Nathan Pachal proposed collecting sign data on 208th Street to find out how severe the speeding problem is.
Pachal commented that 208th functions as a “regional highway” through Langley City even though it isn’t a provincial highway or designated part of TransLink’s major road network.
When the speed reader boards were first installed on 208th, in 2012, it was estimated that the location at the bottom of the 208th Street hill saw over 10,000 vehicles a day driven at an average speed of 70 km/h, or 20 km/h over the limit.
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Details from the report should be passed to the RCMP to help determine where speed traps should be located, Perkin recommended.
Full details from the report can be read online at the Langley City website.
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Langley City graphic showing speeding data from eight speed reader boards (Special to Langley Advance Times)
