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The city sets a threshold for the share of vehicles travelling at 55 km/h to determine whether it takes action to address speeding, but in many cases, vehicle speeds do not meet that threshold.

“This perception of speeding is a result from the vehicle operating (at) speeds ‘feeling’ too fast for residents,” the report explains.

The report also suggests the possibility of playground zones, which have been raised several times by city councillors.

No alternate speed limit is proposed, but information in the report details that studies show the risk of severe injury or death declines at lower vehicle speeds: From 80 per cent at 50 km/h to to 40 per cent at 40 km/h to 10 per cent at 30 km/h.

As for commuters, the report suggests lowering the residential speed limit to 30 km/h would only add one minute to the average Saskatoon commute of just under 20 minutes.

The report cites Statistics Canada data that the average Saskatoon commute of 3.95 kilometres includes less than one kilometre on residential streets.

The report stems from an inquiry by Coun. Ann Iwanchuk in 2017 that sought to determine whether speeding concerns were actually supported by data or whether in many cases the speed just seemed faster than 50 km/h.

But there are plenty of lead-footed drivers in Saskatoon, too. The 18-officer Saskatoon Police Service traffic unit nailed 6,300 drivers for speeding in the first seven months of this year, the report says.

Mayor Charlie Clark tried to convince his colleagues to consider a residential speed limit when he was a city councillor in 2011, but the effort failed. A report from city administration at the time suggested a lower speed limit would not substantially reduce actual speeds and the cost of posting signs would be high.