Vision Zero Vancouver response to City of Vancouver Back-to-School Safety Release

2025-08-31

In response to the City of Vancouver’s reminder to drivers to slow down as students return to school, Vision Zero Vancouver believes that while programs like School Streets, the Walking School Bus, and Walk Bike Roll mini-grants are positive steps, they don’t address the bigger issue: this Council has consistently dragged its feet on the systemic changes that would truly protect kids. 

The City’s School Travel Planning program, the main tool to fix unsafe routes to school, has only one staff member and reaches just four schools a year.  For most families, meaningful improvements could take decades. The City’s pilot to reduce speeds in some school zones lowered limits only to 40 km/h, despite global evidence that 30km/h is the maximum safe speed wherever drivers and pedestrians mix. 

This follows a larger trend: rejecting active transportation lanes next to numerous schools on Broadway, watering down a 30 km/h proposal on Cornwall Ave where a child was seriously injured, and delaying life-saving intersection safety cameras. These decisions send a clear message that road safety is still not being treated as a top priority, despite the risks to children and all road users. 

Every September we hear calls for kids and drivers to be careful. But people will always make mistakes. The point of Vision Zero is that we need to design our streets so that those mistakes aren’t fatal. Children’s lives shouldn’t depend on whether drivers happen to be paying attention. They depend on whether Council is willing to make bold, evidence-based choices like 30 km/h citywide and physical traffic calming on every school route. Mayor Ken Sim says safety is a shared responsibility, and we agree. But that means the city must actively share in that responsibility by redesigning streets and investing in infrastructure that truly keeps kids safe.

With the 2026 budget survey now open, Council has the opportunity to turn words into action by expanding the School Travel Planning Program and investing in road safety infrastructure. Vision Zero means zero deaths and serious injuries, and until Council treats that as the benchmark, not a talking point, our children remain at risk.