Opinion: Road safety not on ABC Vancouver's agenda | Daily Hive

Bike lanes at the intersection of Hornby and Smithe streets in downtown Vancouver. (Bumble Dee/Shutterstock)

Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Mihai Cirstea, who is a research scientist and a volunteer of the Vision Zero Vancouver advocacy group for road safety.

Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver party claims to prioritize public safety, yet they routinely ignore one of the city’s biggest public safety issues — road safety.

On March 14, a driver lost control of his car on Stanley Park Drive and crashed into a tree. The driver sustained life-threatening injuries. His 18-year-old passenger was killed.

One of ABC’s first actions in office was removing the Stanley Park bike lane. This cost half a million dollars — money diverted from cycling improvements. Vision Zero Vancouver warned this would make the park more dangerous for everyone. Speeding has long been an issue in the park, and bike lanes make streets safer for all users.

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A study after the removal confirmed our fears. The number of drivers exceeding the speed limit by at least 20 km/hr skyrocketed from 11 per cent to over 50 per cent. Restoring two-lane traffic enabled reckless speeding and racing through the park – issues the bike lane had helped curb.

While the crash remains under investigation, speed was almost certainly a factor. Had the bike lane remained, with a narrower roadway and concrete barriers, that teenager might still be alive.

This isn’t an isolated incident. ABC’s decisions have made our streets more dangerous again and again. In 2022, a collision at Cornwall Avenue and Arbutus Street sent a car onto the sidewalk, seriously injuring a young girl. Cornwall Avenue has narrow sidewalks, and it borders one of Vancouver’s busiest beaches. Despite years of studies, the city had taken no action.

Frustrated by this inaction, then-OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle proposed reducing the speed limit on Cornwall Avenue to 30 km/h and adding traffic-calming measures. ABC Councillor Mike Klassen amended it to 40 km/hr — a far deadlier speed — and called for yet another study. Two years later, there have been no safety improvements.

On Christmas Eve 2024, Cornwall Avenue was in the news again. A motorcyclist died in a collision at Cornwall Avenue and Balsam Street; his passenger almost died too. Lower speed limits, traffic calming, and a wider sidewalk would have made this outcome far less likely. The research is clear: these intersections save lives. Yet ABC’s inaction left this corridor as dangerous as ever.

In November 2023, we worked with Boyle on a motion to install speed and red-light cameras at Vancouver’s most dangerous intersections. These cameras save lives: São Paulo, Brazil, reduced traffic deaths by one-third overnight by combining them with lower speed limits.

But ABC Councillor Brian Montague amended the motion to request yet another study. Over a year later, we have neither the study nor the cameras. Then, in March 2024, a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run at Nanaimo Street and East Hastings Street, an intersection that is known to be dangerous. Under Boyle’s motion, it would have received a speed camera. Instead, we got inaction — and another preventable death.

A month later, a cyclist was killed by a driver at East 11th Avenue and Clark Drive, another speeding hotspot. Boyle’s motion would have placed speed and red-light cameras nearby, slowing traffic and potentially preventing the crash.

Two months later, a cyclist survived a severe crash at East 10th Avenue and Clark Drive. 10th Avenue is the most dangerous cycling corridor in Metro Vancouver, yet ABC nixed protected bike lanes on Broadway that would have provided a safe alternative.

In just 2.5 years, ABC has done enormous damage with deadly consequences. Their explicit policies and their deliberate inaction have contributed to a growing toll of preventable deaths and injuries. The solutions for safer streets are proven — lower speeds, concrete barriers, protected lanes, and road designs that prioritize human life over vehicle speed. Ken Sim and his party have repeatedly opposed these measures, choosing to make our roads more dangerous.

The greatest failure is not just the harm caused by their decisions but the lives lost due to their inaction. Every preventable death on our streets is a direct result of leadership that prioritizes politics over public safety. ABC cannot claim surprise, nor can they evade responsibility. The blood on our roads is also on their hands.

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