The City of Victoria is changing all local streets’ speed limits beginning this spring.
The city’s goal is to increase safety on the streets by reducing the speed limit on residential roads.
Changing the speed limit to 30 km/h will help reduce the amount of cyclists and pedestrians struck by cars and will reduce the risk of people being seriously injured, according to the city.
New 30 km/h signs will be implemented over a two-year period, one neighbourhood at a time beginning with the Hillside/Quadra area. Drivers will see those new signs being put up throughout the area this spring.
Next, the Burnside/Gorge area will get the speed limit reduction in the fall and Oaklands will see the change in their community this winter.
The streets affected by the change are the ones that typically don’t have a centre line painted on the road and have residences lining the street. Most of the roads in question are used by fewer than 1,000 vehicles on average per day.
These changes will not affect major roads and routes travelled by commuters such as Hillside Avenue, Cook Street and Bay Street.
“Victoria is one of only a handful of Canadian municipalities and the first in the Capital Region to reduce speed limits on all local streets to 30 km/h,” said Mayor Marianne Alto.
“This effort will be supported with ongoing infrastructure investments like speed humps and other traffic calming measures.”
The bylaw which led to the speed limit changes was passed by city council in 2022.
According to statistics provided by VicPD, as of March 2nd, 14 pedestrians had been struck by a vehicle, 12 cyclists had been struck by a vehicle and 4 people in mobility scooters had been struck by a vehicle in Victoria.
The city says that residents in Hillside Quadra will be notified in advance of the signs being installed and the speed limit’s official change.
More information about speed reduction can be found on the City of Victoria’s website.
