The City Adopts A Global Road Safety Strategy Called Vision Zero

There have been a number of serious pedestrian injuries in recent months and for that matter, over the years. As a result, Mayor Patrick Johnstone and City Council are setting up a Vision Zero Task Force to look at how to eliminate serious injuries and death on the roads.... this to be supported by the City's Transportation staff.

Vision Zero is a strategy developed in Sweden in the late 1990s and in 20 years it halved pedestrian injuries and death. It turns the the tables on the old way of thinking in which motor vehicles dominated traffic planning – now pedestrian safety and safety of cyclists and of other vulnerable people come first.

It's a strategy that has been adopted by cities across the globe and is gaining more and more of a foothold in North America. 

In this video, NewWest.tv speaks with Mike Anderson, the City of New Westminster's Manager of Transportation about it.

He explains how this new strategic way of eliminating road deaths starts with the collection of data from many sources to really understand what the issues are. These sources would not only include ICBC, but also hospital data, and information from police and other organizations.

He also talks about a few of the engineering changes that have recently been made in road design in New Westminster to reduce pedestrian injuries and death.

It is the large roads where people are most in jeopardy such as McBride, Brunette, Stewardson Way, and Royal Avenue, according to Mike. Speed is an issue on this roads, so pedestrians and others should be particularly cautious.