What’s new with TAC’s Safety, Design & Operations Council

This is one of several articles profiling the in-person Fall Technical Meetings of TAC’s six councils and their committees that took place over September 22-24, 2023.

TAC’s Safety, Design & Operations Council welcomed 30 attendees to its fall meeting.

Guest presentations

The Council received a presentation on roundabouts from Phil Weber of CIMA+. He outlined the current state of practice in Canada, the work of the Joint Roundabouts Subcommittee, TAC’s Canadian Roundabout Design Guide, and examples of roundabout projects in different areas of Canada.

The Council also heard from Krista Tanaka on the City of Ottawa’s automated camera-based system for speed limit enforcement. Eight cameras have been installed in school zones so far, resulting in more than 100,000 tickets and $5 million in revenue for the city’s road safety program. A 388% increase in speed limit compliance has been observed across pilot sites, leading to strong public support for speed camera installation near schools and playgrounds.

Committee updates

The Council received updates from its four committees.

The Geometric Design Committee meeting attracted 42 attendees. It featured presentations on work zones in Ontario, 3% cross slopes, and turbo roundabouts. Notable areas of discussion included displaced left-turn intersections, elevated bike lanes, protected intersections, staffing and training.

The Road Safety Committee meeting involved 48 participants. In addition to agency updates, the Committee heard technical presentations on intersection sight distance, left-turn calming, continuous sidewalks and bike paths, and high friction surface treatments at signalized intersections. The Committee also held notable discussions on age and gender effects on vehicle collisions, accessibility needs in Vision Zero communities, and truth and reconciliation.

The Small Municipalities Integrated Committee meeting was attended by 20 participants with continued discussion and action planning around the results of a survey of small municipalities. A second portion of the meeting will be held online this fall. 

The Traffic Operations & Management Committee meeting attracted 39 participants and addressed roughly 25 ongoing volunteer projects to further applications, practices and devices that feed into TAC’s Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Canada. A notable discussion was held on the use of traffic signals to manage speeds and congestion.

Safety, Design & Operations Council Executive

The Council’s new Executive includes:

• Chair – Katie Munroe (Yukon Highways and Public Works)
• Vice-Chair – Daniel Beaulieu (Ville de Montréal)
• Past Chair – Ashley Curtis (City of Toronto)
• Board Liaison – Kevin Volk (British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure)
• Chair, Geometric Design Committee – Anne Sherwood (Halifax Regional Municipality)
• Chair, Road Safety Committee – Thomas Smahel (Human Factors North Inc.)
• Chair, Small Municipalities Integrated Committee – Jim Mallett (Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited)
• Chair, Traffic Operations & Management Committee – Ravi Seera (City of Calgary)