Lucy Maloney, Coordinator ATSR Working Group

Study after study finds that active transport is good for kids’ physical and mental health and delivers them to school ready to learn.

If you’re concerned about traffic danger around your child’s school, help and support are available from DPAC’s Active Transport Safe Routes Working Group. This year we’ve seen some significant successes. 

Schools on Cycling Routes

A number of VSB schools are lucky enough to be located on existing official cycling routes, providing students and families with designated safe routes to school. However in many cases, the blocks closest to the schools are very safe and have low motor vehicle numbers at every time of the day EXCEPT when they need to be the most safe – school start and finish times. We see students and passing cyclists endangered by drivers blocking the route and pulling in and out from the curb and opening their doors in the path of people riding past.

The solution is clearly demonstrated by the new curb-protected bike lane adjacent to Lord Roberts Elementary School in the West End. In August this year, after a five-year campaign by parents, a bike lane was installed on Comox Greenway. This separated bike lane, combined with the change to one-way traffic flow, ensures the safety of kids and families cycling to and from school, as well as passing cyclists, as drivers are unable to pull up next to the school on this street and block the path of kids on bikes attempting to access the school’s entrance. Driving parents are still able to drop off and pick up on either of the two other streets surrounding the school.

The new Coal Harbour Elementary School currently under construction, will also have a curb protected bi-directional separated bike lane wrapping around two sides of the school, as well as a raised crosswalk on W Hastings Street, in no small part thanks to the efforts of parents who advocated to City staff early in the school’s planning process.  TransLink is financing the bike lane, part of the Dunsmuir/Melville bike lane extension.

The City has a number of infrastructure tools at its disposal to make official cycling routes safer and more convenient for VSB students and families who travel to school using active transport. The City aims to reduce motor vehicle numbers by requiring drivers to turn left or right off cycling routes, while allowing people on bikes or scooters to continue straight. The City can install speed humps, raised crosswalks and bump outs, which narrow crossing distances and force drivers to slow down when turning. It can also prevent drivers from parking near intersections to prevent their vehicles from blocking the sightlines of road users approaching the intersection.

There are many schools on bike routes that remain dangerous and chaotic and school start and finish times, such as Kitsilano Secondary School on the Trafalgar Street cycling route, Point Grey Secondary on 37th,  Lord Roberts Elementary Annex on the Bute St cycling route and a number of schools along South Vancouver’s Masumi Mitsui Greenway, which is rife with rat-running drivers. 

Schools on Arterials

Many other VSB schools are located on arterial roads. Ad hoc police enforcement just isn’t enough to make drivers feel like they’ll face consequences for speeding, and their design makes drivers feel comfortable travelling at speeds much higher than the limit.

Speed is the number one cause of deaths and injuries on our roads. We know what works to make drivers slow down: traffic calming infrastructure like speed humps, raised crosswalks and narrower lanes and automated enforcement (speed cameras). These tools force EVERY driver to slow down either physically or with a financial disincentive.

The City has included a number of schools in its 40 km/hr school zone pilot project, but in the absence of automated enforcement (speed cameras) or physical infrastructure like speed humps or raised crosswalks, most drivers continue to flout the reduced speed limits.

In January this year we saw the consequence of unchecked speeding on Vancouver’s arterial roads, when a Lord Byng student was left with life-altering injuries after being struck by a driver while crossing W16th Avenue at Wallace St. Shortly after this incident the W16th Schools Safety Coalition was formed to represent parents of the 2500 students of Byng Secondary, Queen Elizabeth & Ecole Jules Quesnel). The Coalition, supported by members of DPAC’s Active Transport Safe Routes working group, pressured the City to join the W16th Schools Zone to its 40 km/hr pilot, install traffic calming concrete jersey barriers at the intersection of Wallace & W16th Ave and narrow the width of the general vehicle lane on W16th adjacent W16th at Wallace. Plans are also in place to install a flashing pedestrian beacon at the crossing. However this isn’t enough to reduce speeds along the entire school zone.

City staff are reluctant to recommend vertical traffic calming infrastructure like speed humps and raised crosswalks on arterials because it would interfere with the unimpeded movement of motor vehicles, but like so many decisions, it prioritises the convenience of motorists over the lives of children. I have challenged the thinking of staff on this issue and will continue to do so. Exceptions should be made to the policy near schools and community centres.

Another solution is the installation of a dense network of speed cameras, which are proven to reduce driver speeds. Last November, Councillor Christine Boyle of One City introduced a motion to install speed and red light safety cameras at intersections with over 100 crashes resulting in an injury or fatality between 2018 and 2022 – and at intersections with over 50 such crashes if they are near a school.

An amendment by Mayor Sim’s majority on Council, delayed the motion for further study and consultation, with city staff now overdue to report back to Council by the directed deadline of Q3 of 2024.

A study published in the Journal of Transport and Health, ranked speed cameras among the most cost-effective safety measures.

Too little investment

The $750,000 per year budget of the City’s School Active Transport section hasn’t increased in the last 6 years and the City’s Active Mobility Plan and the transport sections of its Climate Action Plan are chronically underfunded. Crucial initiatives like the Portside Greenway, the Kent Avenue bike route, the East Side’s Crosscut Greenway and South Vancouver’s Masumi Mitsui Greenway are yet to have funding allocated by the City. More funding in the upcoming municipal budget process would increase traffic safety and encourage mode shift to active transport.

We need the successes that have been achieved recently to be replicated at ALL VSB schools, regardless of the capacity of parents at each school to pressure the City for improvements on the streets around their kids’ schools.

What you can do

If you’re interested in getting involved in DPAC’s Active Transport Safe Routes working group, come to our monthly Google Meeting on the First Thursday of each month from 7.30 pm here: meet.google.com/pty-aeyw-foc and sign up to receive our emails here: https://forms.gle/DUn12SCaoUggvDtm8. Our email is saferoutestracker@vancouverdpac.org.

Lucy Maloney

Lead

DPAC Active Transport Safe Routes Working Group