Towards better Road Safety in BC
In May of this year, the B.C. government released its BC Road Safety Strategy 2025. The document is the latest assessment of road safety in British Columbia. It’s the third of three major reviews over the last decade, the others being 2015 and Beyond-Road Safety Strategy (2013) and Moving to Vision Zero (2016).
Seen together, the successive reports represent a comprehensive overview of road safety programs, policies and initiatives in place across different B.C. agencies and authorities. Most significantly, the first two reports from 2013 and 2016 marked the first formal recognition of a “Safe Systems” perspective for understanding and improving road safety in British Columbia.
The most recent report, however, is a disappointment. Its scope and ambitions are modest. As described in its introduction, the Strategy 2025 is a “framework that outlines the network of tools, initiatives, awareness campaigns and enforcement programs.” As such, it primarily describes the current state of programs available and underway rather than a new set of initiatives or strategies to tackle road safety. The Strategy identifies but does not adequately address a number of serious road safety concerns, particularly the growing risks to vulnerable road users.
Of most concern is the lack of a clear path towards meeting the stated goal of “reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030.” That’s just eight years away, so one might expect a more considered set of goals and more concrete policies to recommend to provincial and municipal governments, and the board group of responsible agencies.
The British Columbia Cycling Coalition (BCCC) recently wrote to B.C.’s Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to underline those points and call for a bolder and more robust set of strategies to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries. We suggest supplemental efforts and engagement to begin comprehensive initiatives to address road safety, especially for vulnerable road users – people travelling on foot, by bike or other active modes of transportation.
The following blog post is a brief summary of our letter.
Active transportation is growing rapidly
The B.C. Cycling Coalition believes active transportation are critical components of safer, healthier and well-connected transportation systems, and more livable and prosperous communities. For 25 years, BCCC has focused primarily on cycling, with an increasing interest in all active forms of mobility. As well, we continue to be keen observers of road transport systems and design, recognizing that our transportation systems are finely meshed and integrated, and that different modes share road space and are constantly interacting.
Contemporary transportation is changing rapidly – in B.C. and elsewhere – most especially in our cities and towns, here most BC residents live. Two-thirds of British Columbians live in the Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island. Across Canada, commuting by bike is the fastest growing mode of transport, cities large and small are building bicycle networks, and protected bike lanes are now in place in every major Canadian city. E-bikes are selling faster than E-vehicles in many jurisdictions. Other active transport modes and travel choices – skateboards, scooters, hoverboards, cargo bikes, car- and ride-share, to name a few – are now very visible in many B.C. communities.
Bolder safety strategies needed
The Strategy 2025 report emphasizes the overall downward trends in injuries and deaths in BC. However, report also points out that while “injuries and fatalities involving collisions between vehicles have declined, similar downward trends are not happening when it comes to vehicle collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians.”
This divergence is mostly due to better vehicle safety design and standards that largely protect the occupants of motor vehicles. It’s widely acknowledged that vehicles are safer today than 20 and 30 years ago. The situation is quite different for vulnerable road users – people on foot, bicycles, wheelchairs and other modes. A robust road safety strategy should be turning its attention to areas where risks, injuries and deaths are increasing.
However, the Strategy 2025 report appears to assume that an overall decline in injuries and deaths will continue in the current policy context and transport environment. However, a growing population, increases in vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT), larger vehicles and a complex array of diverse transport modes may flatten or reverse these positive trends, with even greater risk for vulnerable road users.
Some aspects of vehicle design that protect car occupants – e.g. larger vehicles – represent a greater risk to people in our communities using other modes. Other key factors in the transport system – such as speed, behaviour and road design – remain major risk factors for all road users.
Protecting vulnerable road users
We believe a more robust Road Safety Strategy would signal a stronger commitment to mitigate the present risks to vulnerable road users – again, the one group of identifiable road users where crashes, injuries and deaths are increasing on B.C. roads.
The BCCC has led efforts to highlight the need for Safe Passing Distance legislation – which is in place in five other Canadian provinces and multiple US jurisdictions. We continue to call for the Motor Vehicle Act to be overhauled.The MVA dates from 1957 – and so is clearly out-of-step with the changing transportation landscape in B.C.
The Strategy 2025 report does acknowledge that “protected bike lanes, high-friction surfaces and other targeted road infrastructure changes will help save lives.” The report highlights examples of road design and engineering that directly improve road safety outcomes for pedestrians and cyclists. The earlier Moving to Vision Zero document (2016) illustrates many more examples, including protected intersections, raised crossings, narrowed lanes, leading pedestrian intervals, advanced signals and more.
But the new Strategy shows no commitment to advance such proven safety improvements. For example: intersections are clearly identified in the report as “high-risk areas for collisions between different road users.” But missing are any specific strategies or concerted efforts to introduce safer engineering and design practices – such as protected intersections, advanced and dedicated traffic signals and leading pedestrian intervals.
Better data and broader stakeholder input
Finally, the BCCC believes the relevant BC agencies responsible for road safety can improve data collection and broaden their analysis of road safety risks and incidents. The main agencies involved (ICBC, police services, coroner's service and the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Agency) all operate primarily within the motor vehicle sphere – and so information about collisions and incidents involving active transportation users is often overlooked or not well-understood.
Similarly, we suggest future Road Safety strategies incorporate a more diverse range of participants and stakeholders to help reflect broader perspectives from across the community.
Read our complete letter here.