Photo: KTW file photo

A majority of British Columbians want drivers to slow down.

A new poll, conducted by Research Co., found more than three in five British Columbians would like to see speed limits reduced on all residential streets in their municipalities to 30 kilometres per hour.

They would also like to see the speed limits kept at 50 km/h on arterial and collector roads.

In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 63% of British Columbians favour speed reduction, up two points since a similar Research Co. survey was conducted last year.

Support for the move is highest in Metro Vancouver (65%), followed by the Fraser Valley (62%), Northern BC (61%), Vancouver Island (59%) and Southern BC (58%).

Vancouver city council in 2019 passed a motion to establish a pilot project to reduce the speed limit to 30 km/h on select residential streets. Victoria announced it was following suit last week.

Just over two-thirds of British Columbians (67%) believe the pilot project in Vancouver was either a very good or good idea—including 70% of Metro Vancouverites and 69% of residents of Southern B.C.

According to the poll, two in five British Columbians (40%) see a car they perceive is moving faster than the 50 km/h speed limit on the street where they live at least once a day. Thirty per cent said they see it a few times a week.

The survey also asked British Columbians about automated speed enforcement, which works by using cameras or sensors to identify a speeding vehicle. A ticket is then issued to the owner of the vehicle but driver's license penalty points are not issued because the driver of the vehicle cannot be identified.

The poll also found more than seven in 10 British Columbians approve of three kinds of automated speed enforcement—"speed-on-green" intersection cameras, or "red light" cameras that also capture vehicles speeding through intersections (72%), fixed speed cameras, which stay in one location and measure speed as a vehicle passes (71%) and point-to-point enforcement, which uses cameras at two or more distant points on a road to issue tickets to vehicles whose average speed over the distance is excessive (71%).

“The use of 'speed-on-green' cameras, which is currently in place in British Columbia, remains popular across the province,” said Mario Canseco, president of Research Co. “Majorities of residents aged 18 to 34 (72%), 35 to 54 (72%) and 55 and over (72%) are in favour of this type of automated speed enforcement.”

More than three in five British Columbians approve of mobile speed cameras, that can be moved from place to place (64%).

The poll results are based on an online survey of a representative sample of 801 adults in British Columbians, conducted Nov. 27 to Nov. 29. The data was statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in British Columbia. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 %, 19 times out of 20.