Road safety strategy

The B.C. Road Safety Strategy is British Columbia's plan to improve road safety in the province. It brings together over 60 organizations who are working to make B.C.'s roads North America's safest. The strategy's goals are zero fatalities and serious injuries on our roads.

The strategy comprises two reports.

Road Safety Strategy 2015 and Beyond

Road Safety Strategy 2015 and Beyond (PDF, 699KB) is the basis of B.C.’s road safety strategy. It expresses the road safety community’s vision and:

• Provides four principles to guide the strategy
• Commits all community members to continuing to reduce fatalities and serious injuries
• Analyzes road safety trends in B.C. including:

• Population demographics
• Vehicle registration
• Fatality and hospitalization rates
• How B.C. compares to other places
• Positive changes over the past decade
• Areas for further improvement

It also layouts how B.C. plans to achieve its road safety goals, including:

• Tackling drinking, drug use and driving
• Addressing distracted driving
• Re-engineering roads
• Reducing speeds
• Improving vehicle safety

Finally, Road Safety Strategy 2015 and Beyond identifies how the road safety community will govern its activities, conduct research and raise public awareness.

Moving to Vision Zero: Road Safety Strategy Update and Showcase of Innovation in British Columbia

Moving to Vision Zero [PDF, 3.05MB] builds on the Road Safety Strategy 2015 and Beyond and shares the goal of ending fatalities and serious injuries on the province’s roads. It’s a collaboration between B.C.'s road safety community including:

• All levels of government
• First Nations
• The insurance sector
• The health, justice, public safety and non-profit sectors
• Road safety groups and academic researchers

It acknowledges traditional approaches to road safety have had success. Yet it commits B.C. to building on this with the Safe Systems Approach and a public health perspective.

The Safe Systems Approach is an international best practice. It accepts that even careful drivers make errors that cause accidents. It aims to reduce these errors by treating roads as systems. Each component in the system is designed to reinforce every other component. If one component fails, the others still work to reduce the risk of an accident causing a fatality or injury.

Moving to Vision Zero also emphasizes that well-designed roads decrease traffic and encourage walking, cycling and public transit. This improves public health and reduces air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Related strategies

Canada’s Road Safety Strategy 2025

Road Safety Strategy 2025 is Canada’s fourth national road safety strategy. It builds on previous ones by aligning with international road safety best practices. These include:

• Adopting the Safe Systems Approach
• Having a ten-year strategy
• Developing an inventory of proven and promising road safety practices

Road Safety Strategy 2025 is flexible. It encourages jurisdictions to have road safety programs that meet their unique needs.