A lawyer is coming out against lowering speed limits after a polling company found most British Columbians want slower speeds on residential streets.

Research Co. found more than half of British Columbians favour lower speed in neighbourhoods to address what they see as chronic speeding.

But Acumen Law’s Kyla Lee says for speeders the speed limit is already being ignored, so reducing it makes little sense.

“The reality is that we don’t see police enforcing speed limits on these quiet residential streets,” she said. “They are not parked there with their radar guns, they are not driving those streets to look for speeders, they are not doing proactive patrols, they are limiting those things to the more dense, congested streets – the main roadways and highways where they are more likely to catch speeders.”

Lee says instead of changing laws and confusing people the province should invest in putting more officers on the ground to enforce existing rules.

“If people are concerned about speeders on their residential streets, it’s not because those people are going 30 or 40 km/hr, it’s because they are going faster than 50 km/hr,” Lee added.

“If they are not abiding by the 50 km/hr speed limit, they are also not going to abide by a 30 km/hr speed limit.”