Vancouver city councillor wants 30 km/h speed limits on side streets in BC

A Vancouver city councillor is making a push for some serious changes to speed limits in British Columbia.

Next week, Pete Fry will be presenting a motion to council to reduce speed limits to 30 km/h on residential side streets.

My motion for 30k/h speed limit on residential streets comes before City Council Tuesday. It’s work based on advocacy of many local orgs like @WeAreHub and @bccycle, the previous council, my own personal experiences, and a growing worldwide safety-first movement to slow down… pic.twitter.com/ZC9qKp1bEK

— Pete Fry (@PtFry) April 18, 2019

The adjustment would require a change to the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA), which currently calls for a 50 km/h speed limit if driving within city limits.

One of the motion’s main arguments is that the survival chance for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle travelling at 50 km/h is a mere 20%.

Decreasing the speed limit to 30 km/h would increase the probability of pedestrian survival to 90%.

In Vancouver, we already have 30k/h speed limits in school zones, by parks and on designated bike routes for good reason: We know that the probability of death or serious injury is significantly higher at the default speed limit of 50k/h (31mph). Speed kills. pic.twitter.com/ekDwQpYntQ

— Pete Fry (@PtFry) April 18, 2019

Alongside the motion are a handful of studies and reports, published between 2016 and 2018, all of which call for lower speed limits in urban areas.

Fry argues that only the only drivers that ever need to travel at more than 50 km/h on residential streets are emergency responders and at the end of the day, active transportation and livability should trump all else.

He also notes that an average of 56 pedestrians are killed each year due to car crashes and thousands more are injured.

Earlier this month, Vancouver marked its fourth pedestrian fatality of the the year, across our province an average of 56 pedestrians are killed each year, thousands are injured pic.twitter.com/dZOQiz4EoX

— Pete Fry (@PtFry) April 18, 2019

Should this motion pass, the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) would lobby for British Columbia to amend the Motor Vehicle Act and reduce the speed limits on local streets to 30 km/h.

Municipalities would be able to increase speed limits on local streets on a case-by-case basis.

The motion will be presented to city council on Tuesday, April 23, 2019.

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