Road Safety Programs

We hear a lot about the Safe Systems Approach required by Vision Zero. An article in Transportation Talk, the newsletter of the Canadian Institute of Transportation Engineers by Neil Arason explains:

Oceanside Community Safety is a group of volunteers that want to make a difference. Their Traffic Watch program is an expansion of Speedwatch that now includes Cell Watch and Intersection Watch. Intersection Watch volunteers observe drivers at an intersection to check compliance with traffic laws and remind drivers of their obligations. The data collected is shared with the RCMP, ICBC and the public.

The Victoria Transport Policy Institute has released a document that recognizes the long term decline in traffic casualty rates is ending. According to the document's introduction "Crash rates have started to increase, indicating that current traffic safety strategies have fulfilled their potential. To achieve ambitious safety goals such as Road to Zero we need additional traffic safety strategies. This will require a paradigm shift, a change in the way traffic risks are measured and potential safety strategies are evaluated."

The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has announced that effective at the end of July, 2018 all 140 intersection safety cameras in our province will be operational at all times. The Intersection Camera Safety Program has also increased its staff to review incidents and process additional tickets in a timely manner.

This video is an explanation of the Dutch Sustainable Safety policy by Peter Furth. It is the Dutch national approach to road safety.

At 437 pages, this is not a short reference document. Produced by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration, the publication is meant to be a basic reference for State Highway Safety Offices to help them select effective, evidence-based countermeasures for traffic safety problem areas:

According to the introduction, this package details key evidence-based measures identified by many of the world’s leading road safety experts and their agencies as those most likely to impact road traffic deaths and injuries in the short and long term. They relate to: speed management, infrastructure design, vehicle safety, laws and their enforcement, emergency post-crash care and leadership on road safety.

Yes, it's time to consider going back to school again this year. Will it be safe for our children to go to and from school each day?

Somewhere in British Columbia an unsafe situation will be identified and someone will try to do something about it. Understanding what traffic engineers will consider may significantly increase the chances of successfully implementing a change.

This week ICBC rolled out a new road safety campaign called Drive Smart. It's aimed at increasing driver knowledge, promoting staying focused while driving and looking out for the safety of other road users. There is also a special social media hashtag: #KnowYourPartBC.

The following video is part of the Western Cape Government's Safely Home initiative. The It Can Wait campaign hopes to discourage drivers from using their cell phones while operating their vehicles. For those of us who think that we can safely multi-task while driving the site has this to say: