Over the last 10 to 15 years, traffic calming has become an accepted form of traffic management in Canadian communities. The 1998 publication of the Canadian Guide to Neighbourhood Traffic Calming was a major validating step.
Traffic calming is often advocated by community groups that are concerned with a range of issues related to excessive traffic speeds and volumes, and poor driver behaviour. It is sometimes perceived as a process rather than just a physical change, and extensive community participation in traffic calming projects is typical.
Dozens of Canadian municipalities now have significant traffic calming experience, and many of these have developed policies or guidelines to help ensure consistency, equity and effectiveness in their traffic calming endeavours