Vancouver council passes ‘weakened’ traffic camera motion

Vancouver city council passed a motion supporting more speed and red light cameras on Wednesday, but not before weakening it, according to the councillor who pitched the idea.

OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle proposed the plan, which would have asked the province to install 107 new cameras at the city’s most dangerous intersections.

Boyle’s original motion called for the cameras to be installed at all intersections that have seen more than 100 crashes causing injury or death in the last two years, or 50 crashes if they were near a school.

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The motion cited statistics showing more than 7,300 accidents in the city in 2022 resulting in injury along with 18 traffic fatalities, and came just weeks after a pedestrian was killed on East Hastings Street when a driver jumped the curb and smashed into a building.

The motion ultimately passed, but only after council’s ABC majority amended it to first direct staff to work with police, firefighters, ICBC and Vancouver Coastal Health to study and identify high-risk intersections and report back late next year.

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That report should also include recommendations for alternative traffic safety measures such as crosswalks, advance turn signals or other traffic restrictions, according to the modified motion that passed.

ABC councillors raised a range of concerns, from red light cameras potentially causing more rear-end collisions to the potential for simpler fixes, to a call for better understanding of what factors led to Vancouver’s serious crashes.

“Using raw data without context leads people to believe to if the intersection camera is installed then collision fatalities will be reduced and I feel like that is is misleading or oversimplified there are other solutions which are simple and inexpensive,” ABC Coun. Brian Montague, who proposed the amendment, told council.

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Speaking on CKNW’s The Mike Smyth Show Thursday, Boyle suggested the amendment does nothing but stall on an issue that has already been deeply studied.

She said the data is unambiguous that speeding leads to collisions, and that well publicized cameras act as a deterrent t0 reduce speeding.

“This is one proven, cost-effective practical solution, and I am incredibly disappointed council kind of weakened that yesterday for sort of unclear political reasons,” Boyle said.

Boyle said she has long been supportive of alternative measures to improve traffic safety, including longer crossing times and pedestrian priority intersections, but that there has been a reluctance to fund them.

“So for ABC to suggest another study rather than taking action on an issue where the numbers, the injuries and deaths are devastating, and there have been countless studies, it’s frustrating to me,” she said.

“We don’t need more studies we need action.”

The amended motion still calls on the province to consider installing additional traffic cameras in the city “at locations where these might prove to be the most effective safety measure,” and to allow other B.C. municipalities to install their own cameras and collect fines.