October 7, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Vision Zero Vancouver warns latest ABC campaign promise on removing traffic calming will have grave, long-term consequences for road safety
This morning, ABC announced a slew of dangerous campaign promises that will move the city backwards on road safety. The party says they will remove traffic calming ‘banana barriers’ recently installed, ‘review’ all the remaining diverters across the city, and “ensure that council has the authority to provide effective oversight of major changes, like the large-scale installation of banana barriers, within Vancouver neighbourhoods” (emphasis added).
All of these promises move us backwards and will have serious and immediate consequences for road safety. In particular, the idea of forcing every safety upgrade to come to a Council vote is deeply concerning for our city’s future.
“This move welcomes populist politicking into the road design process and reopens the bike lane culture wars. It will give outsize influence to the loudest voices of opposition, and very likely bring well-researched, well-planned, and thoroughly engaged road safety upgrades to a halt in the city,” said Margie Sanderson, Vision Zero Vancouver’s Director of Organizing. “This is essentially a vow to repeal powers from the City’s Chief Engineer on road allocation. It will dramatically slow and politicize urgent, evidence-based interventions, and ultimately will be paid for in lives lost on our roads.”
We already see the influence of these loud voices of opposition with the promise to remove the traffic calming in Hastings-Sunrise. While a group of residents opposed to the traffic calming have been grabbing headlines and rallying opposition, there are plenty of locals who welcome the change.
“Hastings-Sunrise is my neighbourhood, and it’s been disheartening to see the backlash to these traffic calming measures. The complaints I’ve seen don’t reflect the reality I see every day. Before installation, the City did extensive consultation. This didn’t happen without neighbourhood buy-in,” said Rhiannon Fox, Vision Zero Vancouver volunteer and local resident. “I was hit and injured earlier this year on a street without traffic calming; measures like those in Hastings-Sunrise may well have prevented those injuries. Now my son bikes on his own to high school and sports practice through the traffic-calmed area, and it finally feels safe. We shouldn’t undo improvements that are protecting families like ours.”
Media contact: media@visionzerovancouver.ca
