Vancouver traffic deaths: City wants to see 0 by 2040

Vancouver wants the number of traffic-related fatalities in the city at zero by 2040 and during Tueday's council meeting, Coun. Heather Deal will introduce a motion she believes will help make it happen.

Deal's pending motion orders City staff to develop a strategy with a review of best practices from other jurisdictions; an action plan to achieve the goal of zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries; and a way to speed up the plan's implementation.

Since 2012, Vancouver has been aiming for zero traffic fatalities by 2040. There have already been six traffic fatalities in the city this year; five of them, pedestrians.

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"The first and most important step for us right now is to learn what other cities are doing and learn from them," she told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn. "We've seen a significant decrease [in deaths] since 1997, but six is too many. One is too many."

Deal says other jurisdictions have done things like improving road design, sidewalk design, lighting and signaling.

Deal says some of those things have begun, but the challenge now is "to tie all that together."

She says the city's separated bike lanes have been a major success as have experiments with pedestrian-controlled flashing beacons at three crosswalks.

If the motion passes, staff will report to Council with short-term recommendations in June and longer-term policies by November 2016, according to a statement.

With files from On The Coast

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: 0 traffic deaths by 2040? Vancouver wants to see it happen