Vision Zero Vancouver: 2023 Vancouver Council in Review

The first full year of Vancouver’s new council is in the books and we take a look back on all the transportation safety-related motions that came to council in 2023. We’ve given each vote a “Vision Zero Impact” score and given points to councilors based on their decisions.

These scores are simply based on votes. We know more is in the works. We’ve heard first hand that Clr Zhou is interested in more leading pedestrian intervals, Clr Meiszner wants more pedestrian-focused areas, Clr Dominato is pushing for cycling and pedestrian upgrades in south Vancouver, and Clr Bligh wants to see upgrades to 10th Ave bikeway. But we’re judging on action, not rhetoric.  

This is not a contest, but rather a challenge! Think of it as a leaderboard, and we’re only ¼ of the way through the race. So, here are the votes that came to council in 2023. 

1. Broadway Active Transportation Lanes (FAILED, impact = 5)

Easily the most important Vision Zero-related vote that came to council last year. In 2022, council Clr Boyle’s motion which committed to adding active transportation lanes to Broadway – with all 3 now-ABC councilors (Bligh, Dominato, and Kirby-Yung) in support. In March 2023, staff came back to council with options for Broadway, giving council the choice as to whether or not to include these lanes. 

Active transport lanes on Broadway would align with virtually every goal that the City claims to strive for:

• Having two thirds of all trips to be by transit, bike, walking, or rolling by 2040 as part of Vancouver’s transportation plan 
• Helping combat the climate emergency
• Reallocating 220km of road space away from private vehicle use as passed by council in 2020
• Giving a lane for e-scooters to use as part of the upcoming pilot program, so they’re not in conflict with pedestrians on the sidewalk or cars on the road
• Giving cyclists a protected east-west corridor to travel down, as 10th Avenue is the worst street for drivers hitting cyclists in the entire city
• Helping small businesses by moving active transportation users, who are more likely to stop and shop, onto Broadway

It was the perfect time to do it, with the street already torn up due to subway construction. At $10 million, the price was a bargain compared to other large infrastructure projects. During the public hearing, over 90% of speakers spoke in strong support of the plan. 

This would have been a revolutionary decision that shaped the transportation future of the entire city. Clrs Boyle, Fry, and Carr all strongly supported the plan. Unfortunately, Clr Montague – who ironically doesn’t even live in Vancouver – advanced an amendment which opted against the active transport lanes, choosing instead the status quo of a vehicle-dominated Broadway. Sadly, all of the other ABC councilors and Mayor Sim voted for this plan; Clrs Bligh and Kirby-Yung were absent. A gigantic missed opportunity.  

2. Intersection Safety Cameras (MIXED RESULT, impact = 4)

In the summer, the City of Victoria unanimously passed a motion requesting that the province install speed and red light cameras at the city’s most dangerous intersections, assessed by ICBC crash data. Vancouver became the next municipality to follow suit, with a motion by Clr Boyle which asked the province to install intersection safety cameras at all intersections with over 100 crashes resulting in injury or death over the past 5 years (or 50 crashes for intersections near schools). 

There’s a lot of evidence that these interventions work, reducing injury crashes by about 20%. Intersections in Vancouver with existing cameras have seen crash rates drop faster than high-collision intersections without cameras. Our own analysis, extrapolating from published literature and existing ICBC and Vancouver Coastal Health data, shows that these new cameras could prevent 1 ER visit every day, 1 serious injury every month, and 1 death every year. And they generate revenue, which Clr Boyle’s motion sought to funnel back into road safety improvements. Best of all, as the Province administers these cameras, their procurement and installation would have cost the city nothing. It was a rare win-win: making our roads immediately safer while also producing revenue for future safety upgrades.

Unfortunately, Clr Montague amended the motion to request expensive and redundant studies first, before implementing any solutions. Sadly, all of the ABC councilors voted for Montague’s motion, with Boyle, Carr, and Fry attempting to stick to the original motion. As of now, the entire concept is in limbo, with no safety studies planned, and no letter from the Mayor to the Province that we’ve yet seen. The good news? Since then, Richmond, Burnaby, New Westminster, Langley City, and North Vancouver have all passed motions asking for these cameras, without any silly counter-productive amendments. 

3. Better Road Paint Maintenance (PASSED, impact = 3)

A motion brought forward by Clr Fry will help the city create a plan and provide funding for regular maintenance of road painting, including lane markers, crosswalks, stop lines, etc. This is an important move for the safety of drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. It passed unanimously, with Mayor Sim absent.

4. Speed Reduction to 30km/h on Cornwall Ave (MIXED RESULT, impact = 3)

Adjacent to Kits Beach, Cornwall sees huge pedestrian and cyclist volume,and yet it’s woefully dangerous, with nothing separating a narrow sidewalk from high-volume car traffic. As far back as 2012, the City had recognized the safety issues and wanted to improve the corridor, but nothing was done. 

In July 2022, two drivers collided at Cornwall and Arbutus, and one vehicle was propelled onto the sidewalk, where it hit a 5 year old girl who was waiting to cross the street with her family. She was rushed to hospital with serious injuries; fortunately, she recovered.  

No one should feel unsafe while standing on the sidewalk, and it was this shocking incident that actually spurred us to create Vision Zero Vancouver; Cornwall was one of the first projects we worked on. We lobbied to have the speed reduced to 30 km/h, and in 2023 Clr Fry brought a motion to do exactly that. A pedestrian’s chances of surviving a crash if hit by a car going 30km/h is 90%, but at 50km/h it’s only 20%. 

Unfortunately, for inexplicable reasons, Clr Klassen amended the motion to reduce the speed to 40km/h instead. While this may seem like a small difference, it carries a fatality risk 4 times higher than 30km/h. Clrs Carr and Boyle supported the 30km/h motion, while all the ABC councilors (save for Clrs Kirby-Yung, Bligh, and Mayor Sim who were absent) voted for 40km/h. 

5. Additional Transportation Safety Funding (PASSED, impact = 3)

During the budget process, staff asked council for an additional $3 million for the transportation safety fund. We were happy to see council unanimously approve this request, which will remove some bottlenecks in getting projects off the ground. It’s important that infrastructure proposed by staff gets funded when requested – this translates directly to curb bulges, medians, raised crosswalks and 30 km/h zones – all things we’ve been strongly advocating for. Notably, Cornwall and school zone speed reductions were added to the list of improvements due to emerging priorities directed by this council – we hope that staff will receive more direction from council on this file and will in turn request more funding, as ultimately $3 million is quite small in the wider scope of road maintenance and improvement funding!

6. Removing Parking Minimums in the West Side (PASSED, impact = 2)

This motion was brought to council by staff, and it removes minimum parking requirements for new developments in the West End and Broadway area. It passed unanimously. The impact would be higher if this stretched city-wide, but it’s a nice start. 

7. Drake St & Granville Connector Upgrades (PASSED, impact = 2)

Council unanimously approved implementing two $500,000 grants for continued improvements on Drake Street and the Granville Connector. Both projects were initiated before 2023, but it’s nice to see council reaffirm their commitment to these upgrades. 

8. Water Street 2024 Pedestrian Pilot (PASSED, impact = 2)

Next summer, a small stretch of Water Street in Gastown will go car-free thanks to a motion championed by Clr Kirby-Yung. Though exciting, we’re a bit disappointed that it’ll only be 1 block instead of the entire 3, and that it’s only for a couple months. If it were up to us, Water Street would be permanently pedestrianized. We hope it goes better than 2023’s Yew Street pedestrian pilot. We’ll score this one again in 2024 based on the results. 

9. Pedestrian Scramble Crossing Pilot (PASSED, impact = 1)

Spearheaded by Clrs Meizner and Zhou, Vancouver will be getting a new “scramble” pedestrian crossing at Granville and Robson some time in 2024. A scramble crossing is an intersection where all pedestrians get to cross in every direction at once. This is a cool idea and we’re on board! The impact is fairly low, as it’s being placed at an intersection which already doesn’t allow turns – the City’s own analysis admits that this site “would not reduce vehicle and pedestrian conflicts as turns are restricted.” Still, we hope the learnings from this pilot can be used to expand the program. 

That’s it for our year in review! Clr Boyle comes out on top as the Vision Zero champion, with strong showings from Clrs Fry and Carr. ABC is a mixed bag, with better scores among the councilors who also served last term. Like we said at the start, this is a challenge! Who will rise to the top in 2024? Stay tuned, we’ll all find out together!