Meaford council has given initial approval for a reduction in speed on a stretch of Concession 8 South that has been a growing concern for some residents in the area.
During their December 15 meeting, council was presented with a seven-page report from staff which provided background and offered four options for council to consider. While staff had recommended that council receive the report for information purposes only, council wanted to take action, and instead opted for the third option provided, to reduce the speed limit on the stretch of road from 80 km/hr to 60 km/hr.
“On June 24, the Municipality received an email from a concerned resident regarding an accident in Chatsworth on Concession 3A that connects with Concession 8 South. The resident identified concerns with the posted speed limit and truck traffic from the quarry along Concession 8 South. Further the resident presented at Council on October 6 identifying additional requests including reducing the speed limit to 50km/hr,” staff advised in their report. “Following receiving the initial concern the Municipality proceeded with the speed review process and collected speed data on the road. The information was passed along to the OPP for review. On November 17, 2025, Councillor Uhrig brought forward a motion requesting a review of the current speed limit including consultation with the OPP.”
Uhrig’s motion was prompted by concerns raised by residents of Concession 8 South. Diane and Martin Sasek, who live on Concession 8 South, have been sharing their concerns about the speed on their road with council since late summer, and they also made a presentation to council on October 6, and followed up with email messages along with a letter to the editor, published on October 30.
Staff advised council that Chatsworth has confirmed that they have installed the proper 60km/hr begins and ends signage on their portion of the road.
The Saseks have insisted that their road is unsafe, and they have been requesting that council lower the speed limit on their stretch of Concession 8 South. The Saseks have also submitted a number of photos showing radar readings of vehicles travelling on the road as fast as 100 km/hr.
Municipal staff and the OPP looked into the claims of excessive speed on the road.
“Since the complaint there has been speed data collected along Concession 8 South three times with the 85th% speed ranging from 84km/hr to 90km/hr. Based on this information the OPP has identified the enforcement rating on this road as low. The OPP has also completed focused patrol and officer site visits along this road section,” staff advised in their report to council. “Following receiving the initial concern the Municipality proceeded with the speed review process which involves installing temporary speed and traffic counters. Data was collected from July 11 to the 15th and again on July 29th to August 4 in a revised location along Concession 8 South. As a part of the traffic concern process the traffic data is sent to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for further review to determine if there is a need for enhanced patrol or if other measures are warranted. All of the data collected was passed on to the OPP.”
While the OPP did not consider speed to be a concern on the road, they did identify other items that could be improved.
“Staff have continued to work with the OPP to determine if the identified speeding concerns are warranted. Following review of the data collected in July and August it was identified that the 85% speed was 90km/hr. The OPP confirmed that, as this section of roadway has a speed limit of 80km/hr, these speeds do not identify a speeding concern from their perspective. The recorded speed also falls within the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) and Ontario Traffic Manuals (OTM) acceptable operating ranges for a rural 80km/h roadway,” staff noted in their report. “Based on the continued resident concern the OPP did proceed with focused patrol and officer site visits. The focused patrol took place over a two-week period and involved five officers.”
After the focused patrol period, the OPP told the municipality that speeds were not found to be excessive, and their enforcement priority was shifted to “education and warnings”.
Officers also noted the lack of delineation signage between the 60km/hr in Chatsworth and the 80km/hr in Meaford and notified the Municipality and Township. The OPP also noted that the road surface within Meaford’s 80 km/hr section is in “rough shape” compared to the 60 km/hr section in Chatsworth.
At their meeting on December 15, council unanimously supported amending the motion provided by staff to select the third option presented to council, to reduce the speed limit in the area from 80 km/hr to 60 km/hr at a cost of approximately $3,000, which will be funded from the municipal road reserves.
Council gave initial support for the speed reduction with a 5-1 vote on the amended motion.
Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney was the lone vote against the amended motion, and she expressed some reservations regarding a speed reduction.
“This one kind of bothers me,” Keaveney told council. “We have a situation here where in the report it clearly says that the OPP do not recommend a reduction in speed, we have other residents on the road who have reached out to me who have said they don’t feel the road needs a reduction. Yet in spite of all of that, because we had a resident come to council and advocate for a speed reduction, we are leaning towards doing that. So I’m just a little bit bothered about it, and I look forward to the further report with the maps, but I’m not going to vote in favour of this reduction today.”
A question remaining for council is whether to reduce the speed from the Holland Sydenham Townline to Concession 6, as was identified in the staff report, or to continue to County Road 18 where the Animal Shelter is located.
A final vote on the speed reduction, and the length of the speed reduction zone will be held by council during their January 12 meeting.
