Sault Ste. Marie city council agreed tonight to look at switching some traffic signals to flashing red and yellow lights late at night.
Council voted in favour of a resolution from Ward 4 Couns. Stephan Kinach and Marchy Bruni asking for stop lights to be changed over between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. for a trial period.
"I think our council is the council that is willing to make this change, and we will see regular, steady, smooth traffic at nighttime," Kinach said.
He was also concerned about vehicular emissions.
"How many kilometres has our public works equipment done this year on the roads? How many red lights have they sat at and they were burning gas in the middle of the night when nobody else was around?
"Just even that small fraction will help our carbon footprints with our city, and that's just another aspect of why this needs to get passed today," Kinach said.
The city has considered the idea in the past and staff told council tonight that a new study was unlikely to produce different findings.
"Our insurer has stated that they do not recommend the use of flashing red over traffic signals because of the potential increase for collisions," said Melanie Borowicz-Sibenik, assistant city solicitor.
"If there was an increase in collisions, there would be an increase in premiums, and they suggested the savings of time and energy outweigh the risk from their point of view," Borowicz-Sibenik said.
Other studies have concluded that switching stop lights at night increased the probability of accidents.
"I just hate to have staff do a report if it's going to come back the exact same way," said Ward 3 Coun. Angela Caputo.
"Unless something changes, I don't see myself supporting this. It's not that I'm against having a free flow of traffic, but if it comes at the cost of more accidents, then I think we need to weigh that."
Carl Rumiel, the city's director of engineering services, said he was aware of a number of communities in Michigan that switched traffic signals late at night, but knew of none in Ontario.
Ward 1 Coun. Sonny Spina said any change made at an intersection can increase the number of collisions.
Spina wanted more data on whether there were more accidents for three months or six months, after which things returned to normal.
"What I have not seen in the research that's been provided or in the assessment from our insurer is any statement regarding that."
"I think when we get this report back, that's something that I would sincerely want an answer to. If it's simply the same as any other traffic control change that we make, then, why are we going to make a big deal of it here?
"And the other half of that ... is I have a very, very difficult time relying on data that's 10 years old. I would certainly want to see something more recent," Spina said.
Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said he'd like the change to be made as a temporary pilot.
"I think the best data we're going to get is going to be our own data, and if a report does come back, I'd like to see what the stats are in Sault, Michigan."
"Lots of their drivers are Canadians going over there .... Lots of their drivers are Canadians, and Canadians are used to driving with the flashing signals over there. So I'd like to see some data from them," the mayor said.