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Most North Shore residents don't want driverless cars on B.C. roads: poll

Only 20 per cent of residents eager for driverless cars
Brent Richter
Brent Richter
autonomous vehicles Getty Images web
A future featuring cars with self-driving technology may be here sooner rather than later, according to TransLink's Transport 2050 Strategy.Artur Debat/Getty Images

They are coming, we're told. It's only a matter of time. But the majority of North Shore residents say they are not eager to be sharing the roads with driverless or autonomous vehicles.

North Shore News polled 1,175 North Shore News readers and asked the question: Are you eager to see driverless cars on B.C. roads?

The poll ran from Nov. 1 to Nov. 9 on our website. Of the 1,175 votes, we can determine that 511 are from within the North Shore community. The full results are as follows:

Yes, they will be safer than human drivers and reduce traffic. 19.96% local, 20.85% total    
No, they cannot be trusted and will only add empty vehicles to the road. 60.08% local, 60.85%  total    
I won't mind others using them but I prefer a steering wheel and pedals. 13.11% local, 11.40 % total    
I will prefer to bike, walk or take transit, just as I do now. 6.85% local, 6.89% total    
  Local   Total

TransLink's Transport 2050 plan anticipates the arrival of autonomous vehicle and calls them to be integrated in a way that is safe for both drivers and vulnerable road users.

Last month, North Vancouver RCMP ticketed a woman after she was filmed appearing to be asleep at the wheel of her Tesla on the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, relying only on her vehicle's autopilot mode.

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers that are located in North and West Vancouver. The margin of error – which measures sample variability – is +/- 2.85%, 19 times out of 20.

North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.