Two-in-five residents say they perceive a car going over the speed limit on the street where they live “at least once a day.”
Vancouver, BC [June 7, 2019] – A sizeable proportion of British Columbians would like to see changes to municipal speed limits, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 58% of British Columbians say they would “definitely” or “probably” 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.
Support for the implementation of this policy is highest among women (63%), British Columbians aged 35-to-54 (62%) and residents of Vancouver Island (60%).
Earlier this year, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed a motion to establish a pilot project that will see the speed limit reduced to 30 km/h on select residential streets in the city.
Two thirds of British Columbians (66%) believe the City of Vancouver’s pilot project is a “very good” or “good idea”, while 22% consider it “bad” or “very bad.”
“While many British Columbians are in favour of the City of Vancouver’s pilot project, there are some differences related to political allegiance,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “British Columbians who voted for the BC New Democratic Party (NDP) and the BC Green Party in the last provincial election are more supportive of the project (74% and 72% respectively) than those who voted for the BC Liberals in 2017 (60%).”
More than two-in-five British Columbians (42%) say they see a car that they perceive is circulating above the current speed limit on the street where they reside “at least once a day”, while only 16% say this “never” happens.
Residents of the Fraser Valley (54%), Northern BC (50%) and Southern BC (48%) are significantly more likely to perceive speeding vehicles on their street “at least once a day” than those who live in Vancouver Island (40%) and Metro Vancouver (39%).
Methodology:
Results are based on an online study conducted from May 26 to May 28, 2019, among 800 adults in British Columbia. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian 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 twenty.
Find our full data set here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca