2025-12-11
Yesterday, Vancouver council passed two important road safety motions. The first, from Councilor Lucy Maloney, asks staff to take action to ban right turns on red (RoR) at the following locations:
- where drivers turn through a bike lane
- where drivers turn through a leading pedestrian interval (where the pedestrian walk signal turns on before the green light)
- at intersections with high pedestrian and cyclist collision rates
Road safety experts widely agree that RoR increase crashes, especially for cyclists and pedestrians. RoR has been banned by default at all intersections in Montreal and New York City. In 2024, Washington, DC became North America’s third major city to join them after a pilot showed huge declines in right of way violations and collisions. In most of the rest of the world, RoR is simply nonexistent. Restricting RoR is a common-sense move supported by overwhelming evidence. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it will save lives.
The second, from Councilor Sean Orr, asks the city to collect driver speed data at all locations of fatal collisions.
We know from ICBC that speed is the number one contributor to serious and fatal crashes; however, all too often, council has opted to ask for “more studies” rather than implementing solutions. Councilor Orr’s motion will enable the collection of this critical data, and help inform traffic-calming and speed-reducing interventions to make our streets safer.
Both motions were referred to staff as part of the City’s broader Vision Zero action plan refresh, itself the result of a motion that Councilor Maloney passed in the summer; this report is due back in mid-2026.
We applaud Councilors Maloney and Orr for championing these issue and appreciate the consensus that better road safety is a priority for all councillors. We also thank the many people who wrote and called in to council to share their own heartfelt stories and experiences. We are looking forward to an on-time report back with clear action items.
Vision Zero Vancouver 