A recent survey of British Columbians revealed that most are in favour of upping the installation of red light and ‘speed-on-green’ traffic cameras to deter reckless drivers from speeding and running through red lights.
Research Co., a BC-based survey and statistics firm, conducted a survey to inquire about people’s preferences when it comes to deterring speeding.
The survey indicated that around 68% of respondents on Vancouver Island approve of the use of fixed speed cameras.
Meanwhile, only 59% of islanders are in favour of the police using mobile speed cameras that can be moved around, 69% are in agreement that ‘speed-on-green’ traffic cameras which capture speeders on green lights as well as catch people running red lights.
“The reliance on red light cameras to issue tickets for speeding is not politically contentious in British Columbia,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co.
“Sizeable proportions of residents who voted for the BC Liberals (76%), the BC New Democratic Party (NDP) (74%) and the BC Green Party (73%) in 2020 agree with this approach.”
The survey also found that half of Vancouver Island pollees say they would be in favour of police using ‘point-to-point’ enforcement. This method uses two cameras positioned at different positions along the same stretch of road and measures the time it takes for drivers to get from one point to the other to determine their speed.
In addition to asking Vancouver Islanders about their preferences for speed cameras, respondents were also asked about what they’d like to see in their municipality in terms of speed limits.
The survey suggests that the majority of pollees, at 64%, would like to see speed limits on residential roads reduced to 30 km/h. Only 9% of respondents were vehemently against this decision.
In 2023, the decision was made to reduce most residential roads’ speed limits to 30 or 40 km/h in several municipalities in Greater Victoria, including Saanich and Victoria itself.
These changes are being slowly implemented by the municipalities over the next few years.
