A few months ago, drone videos of empty streets in Europe served as a stern warning about what life at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic would look like.
Stores were closed and plazas had no tourists walking about. In North America, it took a few more weeks for vehicle traffic to dwindle considerably in most municipalities, as the need for social distancing kept individuals away from offices, restaurants and stores.
British Columbia is now preparing for Phase 3 of the COVID-19 restart plan, which will allow for what is described as “smart and safe” travel within the province. This will likely put more vehicles on our streets, as economic activity is slowly reactivated. On an anecdotal basis, we may already be noticing more vehicle traffic near our homes.
In 2018, Research Co. and Glacier Media began tracking the views of British Columbians on the concept of automated speed enforcement, essentially a reliance on technology to make sure that drivers are abiding by existing regulations. In many jurisdictions around the world, cameras or sensors are used to notice when a vehicle is speeding. A ticket is then issued to the vehicle’s owner, but no licence points are lost because the vehicle’s driver is not identified.
In 2020, we continue to see a high level of support across the province for four different types of automated speed enforcement. Seven in 10 British Columbians (71%) approve of using fixed speed cameras. These devices stay in one location, measure speed as a vehicle passes and can be placed in school zones or on other roads. This year’s findings are remarkably consistent with what the province’s residents told us in the 2018 survey (71%) and in the 2019 poll (69%).
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