Vancouver Voters: Advance Voting is on TODAY

Election Day is next Saturday, October 17th but you can advance vote today, October 10th! Next opportunity for advance voting is Tuesday, October 13th and then next Saturday is the final election day.

Still struggling to wade through all the candidates? We've put together a quick voting guide that evaluates where each party stands on road safety:

Do you like traffic calming?

...We're guessing the answer is probably yes. After nearly a decade of consultation, the lucky residents of Hastings-Sunrise have finally gotten the first iteration of traffic calming barriers installed to slow cut-through traffic and reduce vehicle volumes and speeds. Our friend Nic Laporte has a great video out highlighting how useful this infrastructure is.

Unsurprisingly, some locals are unhappy. And while we're sure there is room for improvement - this is the first phase, with the city currently collecting data and feedback to improve things in the new year - ripping everything out just brings us backwards.

But now, in a desperate bid to win over some more voters, ABC has promised to do just that and more. In addition to removing the traffic calming in Hastings-Sunrise and 'reviewing' it citywide, they're planning to strip powers from the City's Chief Engineer to force all future projects to go through a Council vote. We're deeply concerned about how this will impact (or: completely stall) progress on road safety. Read our press release.

Neighbours are also organizing a petition to show their support for the traffic calming measures:

How the Province can help

We heard there's a Provincial election on! Honestly, we're not too encouraged by any of the parties' engagement with road safety issues. We are once again circulating our year-old blog post, Five Things the Province Can Do, because none of the things have been done.

In addition, our latest video out and it targets a deadly road that sits squarely in Provincial jurisdiction to fix: Lougheed Highway.

A Letter from Rhiannon:

My name is Rhiannon and I’ve been a volunteer with Vision Zero Vancouver since day one. 

In February of this year, I was riding home from a meeting at Vancouver City Hall, where I’d been representing VZV in a safe streets workshop, when I was hit by a careless driver a block from my home, on a street where I’d repeatedly raised the danger with the City. I was left with a broken wrist, a concussion, and an even stronger desire to see real change on our streets.

And I was one of the “lucky” ones. Every year, 100 people are killed in car crashes in Metro Vancouver, and thousands more are left with life-changing injuries. These aren’t accidents, because they’re both predictable and preventable. We know how to make streets safe for people; we’ve just chosen for far too long to design them for speed instead. 

Vision Zero Vancouver is helping to change that, and it has punched above its weight since its inception. Despite being mostly powered by volunteers, VZV has helped to shift the narrative around traffic violence and made real differences in the community. We’ve been instrumental in getting safe streets motions passed by council, shaped the platforms of municipal parties, and even gotten one of our own elected to Vancouver City Council. We’ve become the go-to voice for news media, hosted events that allow people to imagine a better future, and yes, gone viral with our pedestrian brick video. 

Right now, voters across BC are electing their municipal councils, and VZV is in the thick of it. We’ve graded every Vancouver councillor's full term on street safety in our council report card, so voters can see exactly who showed up for safe streets and who didn’t. We’ve drafted a Safe Streets Plan and pushed for municipal parties to commit to it so that no matter who you vote for, you know where they stand on the biggest public safety risk most of us face. And we’re about to blanket the city with stickers urging people to vote for safer streets.

But stickers, printing, and organizing aren’t free. Nor is paying our Director of Organizing, the incredible Margie Sanderson, whom we were able to bring on as our first full-time staff person earlier this year. 

Margie has supercharged our organization, bringing her boundless energy, creativity, and heart to everything that she does. After my crash, she was the first person to come visit me at home, and she didn’t just bring sympathy: she helped me turn my story into a voice for action and change. We are so lucky to have her, and we want to keep her on full-time, with the security of knowing her job isn’t funded month-to-month.

But here’s only so far a shoestring budget can stretch, and we could be so much more effective with more money. So here’s the ask: become a monthly donor. Predictable monthly donations are what allow us to plan ahead, keep Margie on, and launch new campaigns. For an organization like VZV, even $10 a month is real money. If you’re already a monthly donor, thank you! If you can increase your monthly gift by just $10 or more, you’re directly funding the next phase of our work. 

Traffic violence is preventable. We know what works and we’re fighting hard to build a safer community for everyone. The only question is whether the people who do this work can afford to keep doing it. Please give $10 a month to help keep us going, keep Margie employed, and get safe streets champions elected to council. 

With gratitude,

Rhiannon

What we've been up to

🗓️Save the date! We are hosting a memorial event on World Day of Remembrance honouring those who have been killed or seriously injured on the roads. Sunday, November 15th. More info to come.

Thanks for reading!