Vancouver approves plan to lower residential speed limits to 30 km/h

Vancouver city councillors approved a plan on Wednesday that will change the way drivers navigate the city.

Councillors approved the measures from a staff report that suggested lowering the speed limit on minor streets down to 30 kilometres per hour.

This is part of the ‘Vision Zero’ strategy, which aims to reduce deadly crashes and injuries to zero by introducing traffic changes. The idea has already been implemented across parts of Europe, in New York, Seattle and in Edmonton, where speed limits dropped to 40 kilometres per hour in 2021.

Sandy James, a former Vancouver City Planner and now the managing director of Walk Metro Vancouver, says she’s on board with the idea.

“Anything that slows vehicle traffic down will save lives,” James told 1130 NewsRadio prior to the approval.

“What we know is that if you’re hit by a vehicle going 50 kilometres an hour, as a pedestrian or a cyclist, you only have a 10 to 15 per cent chance of survival. That increases to 80 per cent, if you are hit by vehicle at 30 kilometres an hour. Slower vehicles also means they have double the reaction time. They are not admitting as much automobile admissions into an atmosphere, which makes it better for everybody to breathe.”

She points to success stories overseas.

“In Britain, when they put in 30 kilometres an hour in the neighbourhoods, they immediately saw a decrease of about 40 per cent in crashes, and in the City of Edinburgh, they actually found they were saving approximately $20 million Canadian a year just with the lack of crashes, the lack of serious injuries, the lack of fatalities, and the fact people could actually walk and recreate on their neighbourhood streets without worrying about cars speeding by.”

James explains that in a city that gets so much rain, any steps taken to reduce crashes should go ahead without opposition.

“Our danger months are from November to February for people who are hit by vehicles while they’re walking or biking. And in our grey sky and rainy winters that don’t have reflective snow, anything that can change that paradigm to make people safer is important, and this is one of the easiest things we can do.”

As for enforcement, because it may not be realistic to have police in these neighbourhoods tracking speeders around the clock, the city will rely on existing features like speed humps and narrowed streets to help with compliance.

“I think in the City of Vancouver, we’re really a city of neighbourhoods. The idea is there will be progressive, gateway signage installed at the entrances of neighbourhoods, so it’ll be quite clear you’re coming into a 30-kilometres-an-hour zone.”

Part of the proposal is to instil the new rules in 25 neighbourhoods, deemed “slow zones” at a cost of $350,000. Based on traffic volumes and nearby parks and schools, including Hastings-Sunrise, the West End, Mount Pleasant, and Killarney.

The city will put up new signs later this year.

—With files from Jan Schuermann