Saanich says yes to 30 km/h speed limit pilot

UPDATE: Fantastic news! Saanich council unanimously approved a 30 km/h speed limit pilot with many councillors and the mayor pledging to work to build consensus for 30 around the region. We’ll be working to build that regional concensus, so read on for more.

Several councillors cited the overwhelming public opinion in support of 30, with Councillor Plant commenting that it was a key reason for his supporting 30. Overall, over 400 emails were received by Saanich council, over 200 of those coming from Capital Bike supporters like yourselves. Your voices mattered, thank you so much for writing in. It truly would not have been possible without you.

We wanted to especially thank Councillors de Vries, Mersereau and Taylor, who brought this back for reconsideration and lead the effort to get their colleagues on board.

Where does the pilot stand now?

We’re not quite done yet, as now we need to get more municipalities on board. As for last night, here is the current score card:

• 30 km/h: Saanich, Victoria
• 40 km/h (but haven’t debated 30): Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney
• Didn’t support 40, may support 30: View Royal, Highlands
• Didn’t support 40: Colwood, Langford, Metchosin, Sooke

Unfortunately, at least two mayors, Mayor Murdoch of Oak Bay and Windsor of Central Saanich have indicated they would not support 30. Murdoch wrote to Saanich council last night, stating the following:

I hope that your Council decides to continue the broadly supported process currently underway, one that enjoys the full support of most of your surrounding municipalities. If Saanich Council does maintain the current application, I would encourage a joint invitation from all the participating municipalities to the City of Victoria to encourage the City’s participation in the regional pilot approach as well.

How can you help now?

We’ll be letting people know when 30 comes back to those councils for debate, so if you live in one of the above municipalities, please reach out to your friends when the time comes. If you know any of the councillors, now is a great time to start talking with them about 30.