In 2010, 95 pedestrians were killed on Ontario’s roads.

While investigating each of those cases, Ontario’s chief coroner found that two-thirds of the deaths occurred on roads with posted speed limits of 50 km/h or higher.

A report released by the coroner’s office in 2012 called for speed limits in residential areas to be dropped to 30 km/h.

While provincial officials say they’re not yet prepared to go that far, the idea of reducing some limits to 40 km/h is a possibility.

“We are going to move forward, formally, with consulting municipalities to determine how best to move forward with respect to potentially lowering the minimum default speed limit in municipalities,” Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca told CTV News on Thursday.

Wilmot Township Mayor Les Armstrong said he liked the idea on the surface.

“Slowing down will reduce the number of injuries. People will be able to react better,” he said.

Increased education and enforcement would need to be part of any strategy to lower speed limits, Armstrong said.

Del Duca offered no timetable for when any decision on speed limits will be changed, saying he wants to hear from municipalities before going any further.

“I’m going into this with an open mind,” he said.

Bob Henderson, Waterloo Region’s manager of transportation engineering, said he is open to the idea as lower speed limits lead to fewer pedestrian deaths, but hopes the province doesn’t hand down a blatant edict.

“We’re going to ask that the province really consider the speed limits in context with the roads, so that they’re reasonable and applicable for the roads that they’re recommended on,” he said.

Henderson pointed to highway construction zones, where drivers frequently ignore posted lower speed limits and drive at the higher speed they’re accustomed to, as one example where reducing a speed limit has little effect on driver behaviour.

Armstrong, a former police officer, agreed.

“People are supposed to be going 50 in towns … but I think that’s something that’s not enforced as much as it should be,” he said.