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Vancouver mayor studying municipalities expanding 30 km/h speed limits

Click to play video: 'Speed limit change proposed for BC'
Speed limit change proposed for BC
Thu, Mar 31: If British Columbia's top health official has his way it will take you longer to get from "here" to "there". As Rumina Daya reports, the Provincial Health Officer wants 50-kilometre-an-hour speed limits lowered to 30 – Mar 31, 2016

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson stirred discussion on Thursday after admitting he’s been paying attention to municipalities who are introducing more 30 km/h speed limits.

During an event, Robertson suggested that a broader implementation of lower speed limits make sense, adding that the goal is to get traffic fatalities down to zero.

“His heart’s in the right place,” said Chris Thompson with Safety by Education Not Speed Enforcement (SENSE BC).

But Thompson said even though Robertson’s intentions are good, lowering the speed limit is only a superficial fix.

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“What you’d be trying to do is artificially lower the speed limits to try and take care of a problem that it’s really not going to help,” said Thompson.

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“The reasonable and safe majority tend to do the speed they feel is safe, and the reasonable and safe majority don’t get into crashes that often.”

City speed limits have already been reduced in traffic hot spots like schools, the Downtown Eastside, and on parts of the bike network.

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