Vancouver road safety advocate concerned after numerous car crashes

After multiple pedestrians involved in crashes in the last few weeks, advocates are growing increasingly concerned.

Lucy Maloney, with Vision Zero, a group of pedestrian safety advocates in Vancouver, says one of the main issues causing crashes is the roads.

“In North America, particularly our roads are designed to maximize vehicle throughput and speed and Driver Convenience, and unfortunately, this is often at the expense of the safety of anyone outside a car,” she said.

Maloney says crashes involving injuries and deaths on our roads could be prevented with policy changes.

“I think the principal responsibility goes towards (the) government to install traffic calming infrastructure, automated speed and red light enforcement,” she said.

“Also to regulate the design of vehicles, and implement laws which make speed limits lower where there are a lot of pedestrians.”

The advocate says B.C. needs to take road safety more seriously.

“We need every driver who exceeds the speed limit to receive a fine so that we give them a clear message that it’s not acceptable to endanger people outside cars, or even themselves and their passengers and the occupants of other vehicles,” Maloney said.

She says police have a limited role in investigating crashes and preventing them because there aren’t enough officers to be everywhere that drivers are speeding.

“It’s super important that we have automated enforcement,” she said.

She says intersections are where people are most vulnerable.

“Police need to be working with the municipality with the traffic engineers, design, safer intersections. All these pedestrian fatalities and injuries are happening happening at intersections,” Maloney said.

“Cars are able to go excessive speed and a lot of our roads (are) too wide and too straight and don’t have enough traffic calming infrastructure. So when traffic is light, it’s even more dangerous for people outside cars.”

With files from Raynaldo Suarez and Angelyna Mintz.