Support for lowering speeds in residential areas to 30 km/h has increased from 58% in 2019 to 66% this year.
Vancouver, BC [June 10, 2022] – More British Columbians believe it is a good idea to have a lower speed limit on residential streets, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 66% of British Columbians acknowledge that they would “definitely” or “probably” like to see the speed limit reduced to 30 km/h on all residential streets in their municipality, while keeping the speed limit on arterial and collector roads at 50 km/h.
Support for a lower speed limit on British Columbia’s residential areas is higher with women (68%) than with men (63%). While seven-in-ten of the province’s residents aged 18-to-34 would welcome this regulation (70%), the rating is lower among their counterparts aged 35-to-54 (65%) and aged 55 and over (62%).
On a regional basis, the notion of a lower residential speed limit is most popular in Southern BC (72%), followed by Metro Vancouver (67%), Northern BC (also 67%), the Fraser Valley (63%) and Vancouver Island (58%).
In 2019, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed a motion to establish a pilot project to reduce the speed limit to 30 km/h on select residential streets in the city. The pilot project is currently underway in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood.
“In 2019, public support for a lower speed limit on British Columbia’s residential streets stood at 58%,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The proportion climbed to 61% in 2021 and has increased again this year to 66%.”
More than seven-in-ten British Columbians (72%, +6) believe Vancouver’s pilot project is a “very good” or “good” idea—a proportion that rises to 84% among residents of Southern BC.
As was the case last year, almost two-in-five British Columbians (39%, =) say they witness cars circulating above the current speed limit on the street where they live “at least once a day.”
Fewer of the province’s residents are exposed to speeding vehicles on their street “a few times a week” (29%, +2), “a few times a month” (18%, =) or “never” (15%, -1).
Methodology: Results are based on an online study conducted from June 3 to June 5, 2022, 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 data tables 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