Speed limit update

Good morning! 

I feel like it is my responsibility to inform all of you, especially after this dreadful weather week, that Saturday is going to be sunny (at least according to the latest forecast). Govern yourselves accordingly. You’ll find me outdoors somewhere, like in a park or in the mountains.

One thing you may have noticed if you live on a minor street in Vancouver is the rollout of 30 km/h speed limits. While not in every neighbourhood yet, it’s in quite a few spots. Freelance reporter Dustin Godfrey dug into the rollout more deeply to help Lookout readers understand how it’s progressing and if it could be done faster.

I love these types of stories that not only look at Vancouver, but draw on examples from other jurisdictions. It helps put our own issues into a wider context, as our leaders can sometimes be a little insular when it comes to adopting policies and ideas from around the world.

Let’s dive in!

— Geoff Sharpe, Lookout founder and managing editor

PS - If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free.

WEATHER

Friday: 11 🌡️ 4 | 🌧️

Saturday: 7 🌡️ 3 | ☀️

Sunday: 7 🌡️ 1 | ☁️

Monday: 8 🌡️ 2 | ☁️

As speed limits in local Vancouver neighbourhoods are officially down to 30 km/h, advocates say a slow rollout is indicative of the city prioritizing certain approaches to public safety over others.

Though the lowered speed limits are technically in place on all minor streets, the city can only enforce them in the six neighbourhoods where signs are posted.

The city has also only started with just six neighbourhood slow zones: the River District, Grandview Woodland West, Strathcona, West End-Denman West, Hastings Sunrise-Clinton Park, and Hastings Sunrise-Adanac Overpass.

More neighbourhoods are expected to follow this year, including the Downtown Eastside and more of Strathcona, parts of Grandview Woodland and Mount Pleasant, St. Georges and part of Killarney.

The move is long-awaited by street safety advocates, including Haakon Koyote, a volunteer with Vision Zero Vancouver.

“We’re excited to see this coming out, for sure, as an organization,” Koyote said. “It is really, really important that we’re slowing vehicle traffic down on neighbourhood streets.”

But Koyote is concerned that the wait will be longer still to see full implementation of the policy, which is expected to stretch over three years for 25 neighbourhood slow zones.

“We would like to see it be much more ambitious in terms of speed of rollout,” Koyote said, noting drivers would be more likely to follow slower speed limits if there’s consistency across the city.

The city said it’s an issue of staffing and crew levels to be able to install the signs.

“A phased approach allowed this new program to be easily integrated with existing initiatives,” city staff said in an email.

The city budgeted $350,000 for gateway signs at the 25 selected neighbourhoods, and Koyote said it’s not clear why that’s the case, when Richmond’s city-wide program, with gateway signs at around 45 neighbourhoods, is expected to cost half that, at $175,000.

In all, Vancouver’s program would cost $3.1 million if implemented in all Vancouver neighbourhoods.

But Koyote said the provincial government could make that easier if it allowed cities to reduce the default speed limit to 30 km/h. Then only a minority of major roads with higher speed limits would require speed signs to be enforceable.

Reducing speed limits to 30 km/h has been shown to reduce crashes. And when crashes do occur, they are shown to be less likely to result in serious injury or death. The city’s report on neighbourhood slow zones cites several examples, including London, UK, New York and Edmonton.

In London, crashes were reduced by 42% in neighbourhood slow zones that were implemented in 1998, and fatalities and serious injuries were reduced by 53%. New York saw a 14% reduction in crashes causing injury since implementation in 2012 to 2015, and Edmonton saw “substantial reductions in collisions, injuries and fatalities” since 2021.

But while lowering the speed limit will make some drivers go slower, Koyote said street design should also be a focus.

The city notes 17 of the 25 slow zones already have traffic calming in place, and it says the remaining eight are scheduled for traffic calming under its neighbourhood traffic management program.

Certain types of traffic calming infrastructure don’t have to be a resource-intensive process, Koyote said.

“If you’re going to do full road redesigns and rebuilds, that’s a lot of money. But there are quick-build things that the city has done in the past,” he said.

In particular, the city can use “a concrete block with a sign in the middle of the road” as traffic diverters, barring drivers from travelling more than a couple of blocks down one street, so drivers “can’t just sail through a neighbourhood.”

Automated enforcement, like speed cameras and red-light cameras, would also be on the less resource-intensive side.

But Koyote said the city has shown that traffic safety is less of a priority than other approaches to public safety.

While police budgets have continually risen over the last several years — the Vancouver Police Department’s budget has risen by more than $158 million, or 43%, since 2022 —Koyote said proven traffic safety measures are relegated to lengthy studies and slow rollouts.

In a city council meeting this month, city council approved a plan to shift priorities on the 103 outstanding council motions that date back to 2018.

Some traffic safety measures did get prioritized, including a pedestrian safety initiative at Willow Street and 16th Avenue and intersection safety changes. 

But others were stalled, including adding side guards to the city’s fleet of large trucks, safety improvements at Cornwall Avenue and a Halloween block party program to make streets safer for pedestrians.

The issue of side guards and Cornwall Avenue were particularly contentious in city hall, as council’s progressive members pushed for them to be prioritized.

Coun. Lucy Maloney said keeping those measures, as well as suicide prevention fencing on the Granville Bridge, is meaningful to the families of people who have died or been seriously injured. That includes a five-year-old girl who was seriously injured on Cornwall Avenue and a 28-year-old cyclist who was run over by a semi truck without side guards that was turning.

“Both of those motions were things that we really fought for,” Koyote said, calling the five-year-old girl’s serious injury on Cornwall an inciting incident for the creation of Vision Zero Vancouver.

City staff said the speed limit on Cornwall had been reduced to 40 km/h and they weren’t recommending further changes to the street at this time.

And they cited funding constraints on retrofitting the city’s fleet with side guards, saying the most measurable impact would be for the federal government to require them on all large vehicles.

In the latter case, Koyote agreed that requiring side guards on all vehicles, which the city doesn’t have the authority to mandate, would be the most impactful. But he said the city could lead by example.

And he said there’s “no reason” Cornwall Avenue should be 40 km/h and four lanes of traffic.

“It could be a two-lane road with bike lanes and a 30 km/h speed limit. It goes right past the beach. There’s kids playing all the time, it’s super busy in the summer,” Koyote said.

“The city walking away from that is super disappointing.”

43 years

That’s how long it’s been since Vancouver had a snow-free winter, which I’m sure most Vancouver drivers are ecstatic about. [Globe and Mail]

🏢 Pinnacle International, one of the companies behind a property purchase from the city slammed by a recent audit, now wants to build one of the tallest towers in the city at 601 Beach Crescent. The proposed building would be 67 storeys tall. Staff are currently reviewing the redevelopment proposal. Read more ($). [Vancouver Sun]

💻 While people use AI for things like generating photos of their favourite TV characters, and as a therapist (yikes), universities are struggling to deal with its use. Over at UBC, there’s been an increase in academic misconduct cases at the student society’s advocacy office related to AI, while teachers are employing different policies to address it. Some are even asking for students’ ChatGPT logs! Read more ($). [Vancouver Sun]

📉 Well, that’s a slight miss… After projecting B.C.’s population would grow by 44 per ent over the next two decades, the population in B.C. for the fourth quarter of 2025 actually dropped 0.4 per cent, or 41,000 people. Overall, the Canadian population decreased by 100,000. The big reason? A decline in non-permanent residents. Read more. [Urbanized]

🎤 FIFA just announced a massive lineup for the musical festival at the PNE, including Simple Plan, Flo Rida, Motley Crue, Deadmau5, Arkells and Metric. Tickets for the concert series go on sale Mar. 31 at 10 a.m. Read more.

👎 Premier David Eby continues to drop in popularity. The BC NDP Leader now sits at 37 per cent according to the latest Angus Reid tracking. That’s third last compared to other Canadian premiers, though he can take solace that he’s not as unpopular as Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who is at 31 per cent. Read more.

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Beats, Burgers, Beers | The American | Mar. 21, 2-7 p.m. | Multiple vendors, beer and drink specials, live music | Tickets $15

Hatha Yoga at the Museum of Vancouver | Museum of Vancouver | Mar. 22, 10:15-11:15 a.m. | Sunday yoga and then admission to the museum | Tickets $25

Vancouver Comicon | Heritage Hall | Mar. 22, 11 a.m-5 p.m. | Find new books, merch and more with local creators | Tickets $5

Hoppy Heights | Capilano Suspension Bridge | Until Apr. 6 | Easter-themed activities for the family | Tickets 

Izakaya After Dark | Modus Coffee on Broadway | Mar. 27, 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m. | Pop-up dinner, featuring handmade noodles, sake and other dishes | Tickets $17

Spring Pop - Up Market | Mar. 28-29, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. | Heritage Hall | Pop-up event featuring makers, artists, and more selling goods, treats and home decor | Free

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Originally published July 2024.

You might not think of rice as a main dish.

Accompaniment yes. Rarely do you order Indian food without it. At least in the West, rice in sushi serves as a vehicle, sometimes barely noticed, for the fatty tuna sitting on top,

Persian food takes it a little further with Tahdig, a crispy golden layer of rice burnt into a caramel colour, adding layers of taste and textures, yet still primarily as a side dish at places like Delarra in Kitsilano. 

But when it acts as the main dish, it’s usually disappointing. Paella comes to mind on one hot day in Málaga, a coastal city in southern Spain. I stopped at a restaurant with the look of a tourist trap, a mistake I knew as the big dish of unappetizing, barely edible hardened rice, and dull brown, flopped in front of me. Like a haunting dream, my dislike of paella stayed with me ever since. 

Yet as I sat at Casa Molina, at 2211 Manitoba St., a new Spanish place in the late spring, I was mentally preparing myself to revisit the dish. 

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Someone shared some photos of Oakridge on 120-film, which I have to say makes it look like it’s from the 50s or 60s.