A proposed speed limit reduction is on hold for the stretch of Bronson Avenue where a cyclist was killed last month, but police were stepping up enforcement of the existing limit on Tuesday.

In the hour CTV Ottawa’s Joanne Schnurr and her camera were posted at Bronson Avenue near Carleton University, about a dozen drivers were pulled over for speeding.

“The reason we’re here is because a cyclist was killed recently right down the road here,” said Const. Dan Testa.

“We have to bring awareness to people that they need to bring the speed down.”

Carleton University student Krista Johnson, age 27, was killed Oct. 18 while riding up a bike path on the notoriously dangerous stretch of road between Holmwood Avenue and Brewer Park.

On Tuesday, Testa didn’t have to wait long before finding someone breaking the speed limit, which meant a dangerous dance for him along the road many consider to be a highway.

One motorist who said he’d heard of Johnson’s death was clocked going 100 kilometres an hour in a stretch where the limit is 60.

“For what it’s worth, in rush hour traffic, I go with the flow and don’t have my speed up where it was today,” he said. “I’ll be more conscious of that going forward.”

Another student driver was fined $295 and docked four demerit points for going 40 kilometres an hour over the speed limit.

“I feel like it should maybe be 50 or 60 (kilometres an hour) until you pass campus,” said cyclist Patrick Wells. “I think people drive too fast for sure.”

Area councillor David Chernushenko had pushed a motion at city hall to do just that, which was rejected pending a full review of Bronson Avenue’s speeds.

“I was trying to do the one thing that could be done right now, right now,” he said of Tuesday’s police presence.

A blitz last Friday resulted in 157 violations in five hours, a third of them for speeding.

Chernushenko said he and his staff will be on Bronson Avenue Friday morning to do a survey of cyclists and pedestrians.

With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Joanne Schnurr