Increase safety with lower speed limits
Re: roads still must be beneficial for vehicles (Letters, Jan 30)
I agree with Larry Zilinsky that lowering speeds on residential streets won’t deter people from driving, as the car is a necessary mode of transportation for many people.
Lowering the residential speed limit will however produce many benefits, one of which is safety.
Safety is one of the most ethical benefits of lowering speed. Cars traveling at 50 km/h and higher on residential streets, especially those without sidewalks, pose a real safety threat to pedestrians and cyclists and it is well substantiated in the literature that pedestrian injury and death rises quickly as the speed of cars increase from 30 km/h to 50 km/h. Shouldn’t the balance be in favor of the pedestrians, more importantly children, elderly and disabled, versus cars?
Some applications of traffic calming have been found necessary to slow traffic down in residential areas, be it frustrating for some drivers.
If lowered residential speeds were adopted and adhered to across Greater Victoria, perhaps the need for traffic calming in residential areas may not be as great.
Donna Roth
Saanich
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