Public forum to discuss lowering North Shore speed limits to protect cyclists and pedestrians

Health and safety advocates on B.C.'s North Shore are arguing that speed limits in the region should be lowered to 30 km/h order to protect cyclists and pedestrians and help with traffic in the area.

On Thursday, the North Shore Safety Council is holding a public forum to discuss the idea of lowering the 50 km/h limit in neighbourhoods.

Dr.Mark Lysyshyn, the region's medical health officerand scheduled keynote speaker, said speed limits can be a matter of life and death.

He cited a 2016 report fromB.C.'s provincial health officer, which said pedestrians and cyclists only had a 20 per cent chance of surviving a collision with a car travelling at 50 km/h.

If the limitwas 30 km/h, the survival rate was 90 per cent.

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"By changing the speed, you protect what we call vulnerable road users:those who aren't protected by a metal sheetaround them," Lysyshyn said.

The doctoracknowledged traffic on the North Shore is already prone to congestionbut said commuters ought to be thinking safety first anyway.

"[Drivers]don'twant to hear they have to slow down any further, but if you think of this from even an ethical point of view, it's just not acceptable that in order to get places faster, people need to die."

Lysyshynsaid he doesn't think a lower speed limit will affect drivers' travel times, becausesafer roadsencourage more people to walk or cycle instead resulting in fewercars on the road.

Over the past five years, B.C. has seen an average of 1,400 accidents involving cyclists. Most involve carsand morethan100 happened in North Vancouver,according to ICBC.

In response to last year's provincial report on the issue, B.C. Transportation Minister Todd Stone said lowering speed limits would require a "tremendous" amount of participation from municipal governments in order to move forward.

With files from The Canadian Press