The BC Community Road Safety Toolkit, detailing some of the most effective and innovative road design ideas from jurisdictions worldwide, is now available on RoadSafetyBC’s website at: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=F18FE7304DB74D029366BB1F47B597EB

The toolkit will support municipalities as they consider making infrastructure or other road safety-related changes, with a resource that shows proven concepts from other jurisdictions. Examples include raised crossings, off-street pedestrian and bicycle paths, safe parking lot designs and pedestrian scrambles, which are intersections where traffic in all directions stops to allow pedestrians to cross the intersection in any direction at one time.

The first module focuses on safety measures that primarily benefit the most vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists. Vulnerable road user fatalities represent more than a quarter of all motor vehicle-related fatalities in B.C. In October, 10 pedestrians died following a motor vehicle-related incident – more than double the average number of pedestrian fatalities in October over the past six years. Additional modules will focus on road safety designs that benefit all road users and recommendations on how local governments can implement these concepts.

The toolkit was developed through RoadSafetyBC by the Road Safety Strategy Safe Roads and Communities Working Committee, which includes representatives from local governments, academia, the private sector, ICBC, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Health.

Quick Facts:

• In 2015, there were 293 fatalities on B.C.’s roads, including 63 pedestrians and 10 cyclists.
• One in five people killed in car crashes in B.C are pedestrians and most crashes involving pedestrians happen at intersections.
• Top contributing factors to pedestrian crashes are driver distraction and inattention, driver fail to yield right-of-way, and weather.
• About 1.2 million people die in motor vehicle-related crashes worldwide every year.
• ICBC statistics indicate there are more than 3.1 million vehicles registered in B.C.