British Columbians would welcome lower speed limits on residential streets, according to a recent poll by Research Co.
The polling firm said that 68% of respondents would like to see speed limits reduced to 30 km/h on all residential streets, while keeping arterial and collector roads at 50 km/h. This marks a five-point increase since a similar survey was conducted in November 2024.
Support for the change is particularly strong in the Fraser Valley (71%) and Northern BC (70%), while Metro Vancouver (69%), Vancouver Island (64%), and Southern BC (58%) also show significant backing. Vancouver City Council has already taken steps toward this policy, approving a reduction of speed limits on local streets to 30 km/h in June 2025.
The Research Co. poll also found broad support for automated speed enforcement. More than seven-in-ten British Columbians (73%) approve of speed-on-green intersection cameras, while majorities also support fixed speed cameras (76%), mobile speed cameras (68%), and point-to-point enforcement (63%). The polling firm noted that these technologies issue tickets to vehicle owners without assigning driver’s license points.
Perceptions of speeding drivers remain largely unchanged, with 40% of respondents reporting daily sightings of cars exceeding 50 km/h in their neighbourhoods, and 32% seeing it a few times a week, the results showed.
The survey, conducted online from January 11 to January 13 among 800 adults across British Columbia, was weighted for age, gender, and regional representation. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
