KITCHENER -- Kitchener city council gave the green light to new measures that aim to slow down traffic on three local streets.

At a meeting Monday night, council approved traffic calming plans for Deer Ridge Drive, Holborn Drive and Robert Ferrie Drive.

These new measures include adding speed humps and cushions, raised crosswalks, and narrowed intersections and sidewalks. The Deer Ridge neighbourhood will also now have a speed limit of 40 km/h.

City officials said the work will take place during this upcoming construction season. It will cost around $71,000.

A release put out by the city says that residents were engaged through public information centres, mailouts and temporary road signage.

Ward 3 Coun. John Gazzola said slowing cars down on city streets seems to be a never-ending battle.

"It's one of the biggest issues that we have to deal with," he said.

Cody Lawson, a paralegal for X-Copper, said there was a jump in stunt driving cases throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He said they're now dealing with six stunt driving cases per week, compared to an average of two a week before the pandemic.

"It's just open roads, a lot less cars on the road, especially earlier on," he said. "A lot of people have a lot on their mind, a lot of anxiety and whatnot and are just not paying attention."

Waterloo regional police reported an increase in speeding during COVID-19, reporting 285 stunt driving offences in 2020, up from 143 in 2019. They also issued 3,000 more speeding tickets last.

Gazzola pointed to old design ideology in some neighbourhoods as part of the speeding problem.

"It is a pretty wide open stretch of road," he said. "I think it goes back to the engineers and the planners, when they set the subdivision up. It just tends to want you to put your foot down a little heavier on the gas pedal."

Aaron McCrimmon-Jones, a transportation planner with the City of Kitchener, said it has long-term plan to help slow down traffic.

"Our new designs look at narrower pavement widths, wider sidewalks, wider boulevards, all in an effort to make the street like a sense of place," he said.

Gazzola said planned measures have proven to reduce speeds.

"They do the job because you have to slow down to deal with them," he said.

With reporting by CTV News Kitchener's Ricardo Veneza