Road Safety Programs

Saanich has announced the public release of the district's Road Safety Action Plan. The plan is focused on delivering effective actions over a 10-year period that will improve the livability and safety of the community.

According to the website, the E-Survey of Road Users' Attitudes (ESRA) is a joint initiative of road safety institutes, research centres, public services, and private sponsors from all over the world. The aim is to collect and analyse comparable data on road safety performance and road safety culture. The ESRA data are used as a basis for a large set of road safety indicators. These provide scientific evidence for policy making at national and international levels.

Todd Litman of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute (VTPI) says that Vision Zero will require a change in the way driving risks are measured and future safety strategies are evaluated.

The BC Cycling Coalition is asking you to speak up for safe cycling and active transportation. The group would like you to help to realize the transportation future of BC—a complete transportation network suitable for people of all ages, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds.

While the Walk Audit Tool Kit is a publication of the AARP, it's not just for seniors. It teaches how to assess and report on the safety and walkability of a street, intersection or neighbourhood, hoping to inspire any needed changes. Anyone who walks can use information from the kit to do an audit.

Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You! This is probably the biggest concern among motorcycle riders everywhere and with good reason. Last year in B.C., 1,600 motorcyclists were injured in 2,600 crashes. In addition, on average, 34 riders die in crashes each year on our roads. This is what a snapshot looks like today.

The City of St. Paul, Minnesota has created an innovative program to increase driver compliance with the requirement to yield to pedestrians at unsignalized marked crosswalks in the city. Prior to this initiative, The study initially observed 32% of drivers yielding and frequent multiple threat passing incidents.

WalkRollMap.org is a crowdsourcing tool for mapping micro barriers to accessible walking and rolling. What is a micro barrier? Anything that makes it harder (or maybe even impossible!) to walk or roll safely or comfortably in your community. It might be a missing crosswalk, uneven payment, or unplowed snow. Whatever it is that is getting in your way, or missing (e.g. bench or washroom) we want to know what it is and where! Mappers can also report if they’ve been hit while walking or rolling, had a near miss, or a fall.

Does your community have a road safety plan? If if does, your local government is probably ahead of most. If it doesn't, you should be asking your elected representatives why this is the case. After all, you are more likely to suffer financial loss, injury or death from a traffic related incident than you are from all other criminal actions combined.

Every year in Canada, drivers kill 16 child pedestrians and 5 child cyclists. They also injure 1,300 and 700 respectively. Sadly most of these incidents are preventable and we can do things to make it safer for children to walk or ride a bicycle in our community.