Canseco: Most British Columbians want 30 km/h limits in their own city

Slowing down speeders

Photo: Delta Police

Survey data shows consistent majority support for slower streets across regions, ages and political affiliations.

In July 2025, Vancouver city council unanimously approved reducing speed limits on local streets to 30 km/h.

The idea was originally introduced by Green Party Coun. Pete Fry in April 2019. It took two different councils to finally implement it.

Research Co. asked British Columbians about lowering municipal speed limits for the past six and a half years. In early 2026, more than seven in 10 British Columbians (71 per cent) think Vancouver’s decision to reduce speed limits on local streets is a “very good” or “good” idea, up four points since November 2024.

Public backing for Vancouver’s regulation is highest in northern B.C. (79 per cent), followed by the Fraser Valley (77 per cent), Vancouver Island (72 per cent), Metro Vancouver (69 per cent) and southern B.C. (65 per cent). Residents aged 18-34 are more supportive (77 per cent) than their counterparts aged 35-54 (60 per cent) and aged 55 and over (66 per cent).

Our own relationship with vehicles explains the high level of support for a policy that challenges the current terms of the Motor Vehicle Act. As was the case in 2024, two in five British Columbians (40 per cent) say they see a car that they perceive is going above the current speed limit of 50 km/h “at least once a day” on the street where they reside. A further third of the province’s residents (32 per cent, up two points) say they witness speeding “a few times a week” on their street.

On this question, the Fraser Valley emerges as the region of the province where more people are exposed to speeders at least a few times a week (78 per cent). Vancouver Island is at the bottom, but at a less-than-heartening 65 per cent.

We asked British Columbians if they would personally like to see the speed limit reduced to 30 km/h on all residential streets in their own municipality, while keeping the speed limit on arterial and collector roads at 50 km/h. More than two thirds (68 per cent, up five points) would welcome adopting Vancouver’s new regulation in their home municipality.

There is no “generational gap” when it comes to reducing speeds on local streets. Seven in 10 British Columbians aged 18-34 (70 per cent) want to see it happen, along with 69 per cent of those aged 35-54 and 65 per cent of those aged 55 and over.

The Fraser Valley—the region where the most people are currently observing speeders on their street—leads all regions in support for reducing speed limits to 30 km/h on all residential streets (71 per cent), followed by northern B.C. (70 per cent), Metro Vancouver (69 per cent), Vancouver Island (64 per cent) and southern B.C. (58 per cent).

Automated speed enforcement became a bit of a national story last year after Ontario Premier Doug Ford signalled his intention to ban its use by municipalities. The prohibition was implemented in November. Ford called the program a “cash grab”, echoing the feelings expressed by supporters of the BC Liberals in 2001, when campaigning leader and ultimately B.C. premier Gordon Campbell cancelled what was then known as “photo radar”.

British Columbians are not appalled by the current iteration of automated speed enforcement. Speed-on-green intersection cameras—or red-light cameras that also capture vehicles that are speeding through intersections—are being used in 140 intersections across the province.

At the start of 2026, more than seven in 10 British Columbians (73 per cent, up one point), approve of the use of speed-on-green intersection cameras. Support encompasses majorities of respondents who voted for the BC NDP (71 per cent), the BC Conservatives (65 per cent) and the BC Greens (63 per cent) in the 2024 provincial election.

The public also backs three other types of automated speed enforcement. More than three in four British Columbians (76 per cent, up five points) favour the use of fixed speed cameras, or cameras that stay in one location and measure speed as a vehicle passes. Majorities also endorse mobile speed cameras that can be moved from place to place (68 per cent, up four points) and point-to-point enforcement, used to measure the average speed of vehicles that pass between points (63 per cent, down eight points).

The survey shows that British Columbians are in a different stage than a quarter century ago on the issue of road safety. The abolition of “photo radar” was a wedge issue that helped the BC Liberals defeat an incumbent BC NDP government that had a tough time connecting with voters. As municipalities place more emphasis on bike lanes and walkability, British Columbians have moved away from considering speeding infractions a nuisance and are ready to embrace a reduction in speed limits on local roads.

Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.

Methodology: Results are based on an online survey conducted from January 11 to January 13, 2026, among 800 adults in British Columbia. The data has been statistically weighted according to census figures for age, gender and region in British Columbia. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.5 percentage points, nineteen times out of 20.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.