More than four in five Torontonians are willing to accept lower speed limits and slower travel times for a reduced risk of traffic collisions, according to a new poll commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation.

“I think people understand what the city is trying to do, and that is create safer streets for everyone that allow for different modes of transportation,” said Mike Layton, the councillor for Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina.

“We all want to get home safely to our families or to our places of work or school at the end of the day. If it’s a matter of safety over convenience, I think you’ll find that most people agree that we need to make sure our streets are safe.”

Councillor Stephen Holyday warned that while lowering speed limits to reduce collisions usually sounds good in the abstract, these changes have to be considered carefully.

“If drivers and cyclists and pedestrians are collectively frustrated by increased controls and configuration changes, that raises the stress level and raises aggression,” which also affects behaviour and public safety, said Holydacy (Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre).

The poll, conducted by Angus Reid Forum over five days in early June, also found that 80 per cent of respondents support a safe network of bike lanes across the city, and 69 per cent want to keep the Bloor St. bicycle lanes.

Unlike the relatively uniform support for changes to speed limits, however, poll respondents in the downtown area were much more likely to support the Bloor bike lanes than those from the suburbs. Only 57 per cent of respondents in Etobicoke and 63 per cent in Scarborough said they wanted to keep the lanes.

The David Suzuki Foundation last year partnered with the advocacy group Cycle Toronto to support building a network of protected bike lanes, focusing on Bloor and Yonge Sts. and Danforth Ave.

The Bloor bike lanes are a pilot project running from Shaw St. to Avenue Rd. Council will debate in the fall whether to make them permanent.

Layton, whose ward hosts a big chunk of the Bloor bike lanes and who has been a vocal proponent of them, said he was impressed with the very high levels of support considering that the initiative is less than a year old.

Holyday understands his constituents’ disapproval of the bike lanes.

“Many of us realize that Bloor Street is a very important route in and out of the city. As routes are taken away from us in terms of their viability, we feel more and more isolated,” Holyday said.

“People do support bike lanes, including in my area. Where we run into trouble is where . . . automobile capacity is reduced in favour of bicycles.”

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Younger poll respondents were more likely than older respondents to support the Bloor bike lanes and to say they were good for business, the poll also found.

The Angus Reid Forum poll, which surveyed 802 respondents, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.