After hearing concerns locally and from around the region, Mayor Patrick Johnstone brought a motion to City Council on Feb. 23 to lobby the Provincial Government to increase funding and data sharing for road safety improvements under the banner of Vision Zero. 

In a resolution going to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association and Union of BC Municipalities, New Westminster Council calls on the provincial government to enhance its Vision Zero Road Safety Grant Program, a program that provides grants of up to $20,000 to make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and road workers. The motion also calls for a review on how road safety data is shared between provincial agencies and local governments.

“New West residents tell me constantly they want streets where it is safe to walk kids to school, for seniors to cross the street on their way to shopping, and the reality is that there are too many places where folks just don’t feel safe around traffic, and too many stories of where these unsafe conditions have resulted in tragedy. ” 

The current practice of police collecting crash-scene information to be aggregated by ICBC, while health authorities collecting injury and death data not connected to crash sites creates a fractured information space. First responders also collect important crash-related information, but none of these agencies has a formal process to share crash information with each other or engineering departments who may be empowered to plan and build road safety improvements. 

“We need to prioritize limited tax funds to make the biggest difference for vulnerable people walking or rolling on our streets, and to do that ,we need data to tell us where to invest first - data not available to us now,” Johnstone said. “New Westminster’s Vision Zero Task Force has identified important data gaps that exist, and we need the province to collaborate in closing them.”

Community First is committed to making the streets in New Westminster the safest in the Province through a Vision Zero approach, recognizing that the only acceptable number of deaths and serious injuries on our streets is zero. We are seeking closer collaboration with Provincial agencies to make a difference for residents here in New Westminster. 

Motion: Advancing a Vision Zero Approach to Road Safety

Submitted by Mayor Johnstone

WHEREAS injuries and deaths on BC roads have untold impacts on thousands of BC lives every year, strain local government first responder resources, and result in more than $500 Million in direct health care costs in British Columbia every year; and

WHEREAS the Province’s BC Road Safety Strategy has referenced a Vision Zero approach to road safety starting with the belief that no loss of life on our roads is acceptable and implementing a collaborative Safe System Approach to road safety relying proactive data collection and sharing as the globally recognized path to achieving Vision Zero;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of New Westminster submit a resolution to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association calling on UBCM to request the Province to advance its commitment to Vision Zero and further support local government partners through:

•     expansion of the Vision Zero Road Safety Grant program by providing additional funding to introduce a third funding stream with a cap higher than the current $20,000 limit to fund more ambitious local government and First Nation community road safety initiatives; and
•     undertaking a comprehensive review of data collected by provincial ministries and agencies in relation to motor vehicle injury and death incidents, and develop strategies for proactive data sharing between those agencies and local governments to inform local road safety improvements.