City councillor thinks lowering speed limits is a good idea
Posted January 14, 2013 4:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – One Vancouver city councillor thinks lowering city speed limits from 50km/hour is something that could be considered.
Heather Deal says it’s a good idea. “Certainly traveling anything above 50 I think is very dangerous in the city and on residential streets in particular, doing 50 is very fast,” says Deal.
Victoria city councillors are toying with the idea and are planning to send a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities hoping that they lobby the rest of the province on the idea.
Victoria councillor Shellie Gudgeon says it’s about safety, and an effort to lessen the severity of injuries in crashes involving pedestrians.
“Is there going to be push back from other jurisdictions throughout the province? Obviously. I think through this we’re starting the dialogue and the conversation of how we successfully work to create calmer [streets],” says Gudgeon.
She says bringing it to the UBCM is an opportunity to move it forward as the issue is provincially legislated.
“Subdivisions were created in a very auto centric decade and are designed for automobiles, we hope to have the conversation of how do we re-design our communities,” adds Gudgeon.
The speed limit on Hastings street in Vancouver has already been lowered to 30km/hour in some areas. “And we’re monitoring the success of that program, we are very interested in looking at city wide lowering of speed limits,” says Deal.
A pilot project in Edmonton saw the lowering of speed limits in six areas of the city. Bryan Anderson who is a city councillor there says it has not been much help in reducing the number of traffic related injuries and fatalities according to Bryan Anderson.
