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“There was a real interest in seeing this done, and I think there may be some more communications work that needs to be done with the province to really explain why we need to get this Motor Vehicle Act amended to allow default speed limits in local government municipalities and regional districts.”

The idea was that on local streets municipalities would be able to make the default speed limit lower than the current statutory limit of 50 km/h.

Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG files

Some local governments have already taken action.

Last year, Vancouver council voted in favour of moving ahead with a pilot project to lower the speed limit on certain side streets to 30 km/h. The pilot project is still being designed and staff are expected to report back to council this spring.

On Vancouver Island, the City of Campbell River introduced a trial 40 km/h speed limit in two residential areas earlier this year.

However, implementing lower speed limits more widely would be labour intensive and cost prohibitive for municipalities because of the need to install signs on every block.

“I think it is kind of a missed opportunity that it wasn’t taken up by the province, because it wasn’t asking them to do anything that was mandated, it just would have made it easier,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, who supported Fry’s efforts.

Although the idea was not taken up, Fry still sees an opening in the ministry’s response where it talks about reviewing legislative, regulatory and policy frameworks to acknowledge all road users and transportation modes, and he doesn’t plan to give up on the initiative.