A Canadian suburb has banned the use of electric vehicles (EVs), arguing that safety concerns outweigh the environmental benefits.
According to Canada.com, the Victoria surburb of Saanich pulled the plug on EVs after Saanich councillors voted against a bylaw that would have allowed the slower-moving, zero-emission electric vehicles to use most municipal roads.
“There are number of issues of putting these vehicles that will be travelling at 40 km/h onto our major arterial roads that, I think frankly, put citizens at risk,” Coun. Dean Murdoch, former Sierra Club Victoria Group president told the website.
Sadly just three members of the district council voted in favour of the electric cars.
Canada has been slow to warm to electric cars, although EVs were officially permitted on Canadian roads as long ago as 2000, the Canadian government has stalled and stuttered over whether electric cars are fast enough to be safe and whether electric quadricycles could cope in a crash situation. This hesitancy drove Canadian EV manufacturer, Dynasty Electric Cars out of the country in 2007.
In a fit of indecisiveness, the Canadian government left it to individual provinces to decide whether they will allow the EVs on their streets, and whether to impose any restrictions.
Since then Canada has displayed a mixed approached to alternative fuel vehicles. Some provinces, like Ontario making positive steps by signing to Project Better Place to push forward the infrastructure to support EVs. While other provinces have such as Toronto has seen protests against measures to promote greener transport solutions.
