Our group is made up entirely of volunteers; everything we do is pieced together from people’s spare time. No commitments required: even if you can only do one of the things on this list, even if you only think you can spare an hour a month, we would love your help!
Here are some things a volunteer could do, based on experience and comfort level:
“Starter pack” – No experience required!
Put up stickers
You’ve probably seen these around town. Help us spread awareness of intersection crash statistics, and promote our campaigns. We cover all of Metro Vancouver. If you can place a sticker on a pole, you have all the qualifications you need!
Write to council
Road safety related motions often come to council, and we want to show our support (or express our concerns). We’ll let you know about these, and you can write in. We provide templates, but it’s always good if you can phrase things in your own words.
Take photos around town
If you see something relevant – an example of good or bad infrastructure, a vehicle collision, something interesting or funny – take a photo or video and share it. These often form the basis of great social media posts or larger discussions.
Help us track serious vehicle collisions
In 2024, we started an interactive crash map to help document where serious vehicle collisions were taking place, with information on the victims and news links. However, there’s no good systematic way to track these – we rely on people noticing them (on social media, news outlets, or seeing the aftermath of incidents themselves) and letting us know. We have a discord channel to post these all in one place. We know we miss a lot; any help we can get is appreciated.
Sign and share a petition
We sometimes circulate relevant petitions for safety improvements at local, provincial or the national level. Add your voice by signing and sharing!
“Gaining confidence” – If you feel like you can do a bit more!
Write a Letter to the Editor
Small local newspapers will publish almost anything, and get good readership! Unfortunately, letter writers are usually dominated by older, more conservative demographics, with bad takes on active transport and car dominance. We want to counter this! You can go it alone, or you can post a draft and get some input. Here are a couple examples that we’ve had published:
Letter: We shouldn’t blame a 6-year-old for getting into a car crash
Letter: Why New West’s plan to speed up buses and make them more reliable is so important
Letter: We should be aiming for the ‘gold standard’ of road safety
Speak at council
Calling in (or showing up to City Hall) to speak on a motion ensures that council actually hears what you have to say, and it gets more public attention. It can be nerve wracking at first, but we provide lots of support and it’s over in a flash! In 2024 9 motions came to Vancouver City Hall that we tried to speak at, and many more across the lower mainland. The more speakers we can get, the better! Even a 30 second supportive call goes a long way.
Help with social media
We have pretty active BlueSky and Instagram accounts, but we always need help with content. You can help us draft posts, or once you’re more confident, even get account access. And we’re always willing to expand to other platforms, such as TikTok or LinkedIn, we just don’t have the expertise or person-power! Social media is the best way of getting our message out and we’d love to expand our efforts.
Attend events
We try to show up to relevant community events, such as Car Free Day, and we also have some fun, like with our April Fools Day “BRICKS” stunt. Like everything else, the biggest factor for whether or not we can do these things is finding enough volunteers. These things often require a bit of time commitment on the actual day, but very little expertise; it’s enough to show up and have some friendly conversations. When we put these on it’s always with a decent sized team so you’ll be among friends.
“Expert level” – Some extra confidence or expertise required!
Do media interviews
We get contacted for media stories several times a month, usually following a tragic collision or a relevant motion coming to council. This can range from requests for comments by email, Zoom, TV interviews (reporters are super nice and let do you multiple takes), and live radio. Often we actually have to turn them down because we can’t find anyone available. We’re open to anyone helping with this – we always come together to help prep, and even though it’s pretty nerve wracking, it’s not as bad as it sounds! Here are some of the media stories we’ve done.
Lend your specific expertise
We have a lot of specialized projects in our minds that we don’t have the time or expertise to execute. Our interactive crash map is one recent idea that did come to fruition! If you have specialized skills like website editing, videography, graphic design, or coding, we’ll find good use for them.
Help draft motions to council
Councilors from across Metro Vancouver sometimes approach us with ideas they want to bring forward, and ask for our help with collecting background data, statistics, and specific wording. We’ve worked with multiple parties across multiple cities. We are also recently trying to draft motions and bringing them to councilors ourselves. Here are some motions that we’ve been involved with:
Take Action: Make Cornwall Safe for Kids, Seniors and Families
Take action: Safer Streets with Intersection Safety Cameras
Take Action: Add Bus Lanes to TransLink’s Priority Routes
Help us with grant writing
Right now we have no stable funding sources, but we’re hoping one day that changes! We’re always on the lookout for grant opportunities that would help make our work more impactful and sustainable. If you have grant writing experience, we’ll find a way to put it to use.
If you are interested in helping out, send us a message!
Your message has been sent
Vision Zero Vancouver 