Within three years, there will be only two streets in Victoria with a 50 km/h speed limit — Douglas and Blanshard north of Caledonia Avenue.
The next phase of Victoria’s speed-reduction program — unanimously endorsed by council on Thursday — will see the speed limit reduced to 30 km/h from 50 km/h on another eight kilometres of roadway, and to 40 km/h on another 47 kilometres of roadway.
That means that other than Douglas and Blanshard between Caledonia and Tolmie Avenue the default speed limit in Victoria will be 40 km/h, while new 30 km/h zones will be added in James Bay, parts of downtown and a short stretch of Ross Street in Fairfield.
The 50 km/h stretches of Douglas and Blanshard are being left as is because they connect to the provincial highway systems and have significant people-moving capacity.
This phase of speed reductions is expected to start in about six months, wrap up in 2027 and cost about $100,000 to implement.
It will start when Victoria finishes implementation of a default speed limit of 30 km/h on neighbourhood roads. That program started in 2022 and could be finished in about six months.
According to city staff, by the end of this year, implementation in seven of the city’s 11 neighbourhoods will be complete.
Victoria police did not respond Thursday when asked for comment on the speed-reduction program, but according to city staff, the department has been consulted and is in favour.
Staff noted that police traffic enforcement will continue to focus on high-risk behaviour such as distracted driving and driving under the influence, rather than speeders.
Coun. Dave Thompson said the city has seen improvements in traffic safety in recent years, but still has an average of two fatalities a year, which he called “unacceptable.”
He noted that the city has signed onto Vision Zero, which aims to reduce fatalities through better road design, speed reduction and other measures.
“We haven’t seen the injury rate moving towards [zero], with the exception of one year when COVID hit,” he said. “It’s important to communicate to the public the risk of death for collisions based on speed.”
The report noted pedestrians have a 90 per cent chance of surviving being hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 km/h or below, but less than 20 per cent chance of surviving impacts at speeds of 50 km/h or above.
A city staff report noted that between 2015 and 2023, Victoria saw a 35 per cent reduction in injury-involved ICBC collision claims, a 33 per cent reduction in pedestrian-involved claims and a 10 per cent reduction in cyclist-involved claims.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna pointed out that the staff report noted lower speed limits have a negligible effect on arrival times for drivers. “When you’re dealing with a dense urban area where there’s crosswalks and there’s stoplights and there’s various things, you’re rarely actually getting up to those maximum speeds,” he said.
Data from city staff suggests most streets in Victoria operate at speeds between 30 and 35 km/h, so lowering the limit is not expected to affect many drivers.
“A lowered speed limit is both practical and achievable and will work towards creating a culture of slower driving on our neighbourhood streets,” the staff report said.
Caradonna said data from the city suggests Victorians are driving less, with more people taking transit, walking or cycling. He said the number of people who cycle downtown has doubled.
“So to my mind, all of these things are trending in the right direction. We want fewer car owners over time,” he said.
“I want to see a safer city where when you leave your home, you’re going to get to where you need to get as quickly as possible, but in as safe a manner as possible.”
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