The use of red light cameras to catch vehicles speeding at intersections is backed by two thirds of British Columbians.
Vancouver, BC [July 10, 2019] – Most British Columbians are in favour of a specific type of automated speed enforcement that will be present in some municipalities this summer, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative sample of British Columbians, seven-in-ten residents (68%, -2 since a similar Research Co. survey conducted in August 2018) approve of using speed-on-green cameras, or red light cameras that also capture vehicles that speed through intersections.
Support for the use of speed-on-green cameras is highest among women (74%) and British Columbians aged 55 and over (76%).
“Seven-in-ten British Columbians who do not drive (72%) are in favour of relying on speed-on-green cameras,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “In addition, about three-in-five residents who drive five days a week or more (66%), three or four times a week (74%) and once or twice a week (64%) are also in favour of this measure.”
Automated speed enforcement works by using cameras or sensors to pick up a vehicle speeding. A ticket is then issued to the owner of the vehicle. Driver’s license points are not issued as the driver of the vehicle cannot be identified.
Earlier this year, the provincial government announced that 35 existing red light cameras will begin capturing vehicles that are speeding through intersections this summer. The cameras are located in 14 municipalities: Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Delta, Kelowna, Langley, Maple Ridge, Nanaimo, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Richmond, Surrey and Vancouver.
Just over half of British Columbians (52%, -3 since August 2018) approve of point-to-point speed enforcement, which uses cameras at two or more distant points on a road. The average speed of vehicles that pass between points is calculated and tickets are issued to vehicles whose average speed over the distance was excessive.
More than three-in-five British Columbians approve of two other types of automated speed enforcement: 69% (-2 since August 2018) for fixed speed cameras, or cameras that stay in one location and measure speed as a vehicle passes, and 63% (-2 since August 2018) for mobile speed cameras, which can be moved from place to place and measure speed as a vehicle passes.
Methodology:
Results are based on an online study conducted from June 22 to June 26, 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