Parachute Canada Newsletter – Word on the Street Vol. 20

Our new resources

Webinar recording - Equity in Vision Zero and road safety

Parachute delivered a webinar, Equity in Vision Zero and road safety, on Dec. 8, 2022. Watch the video recording if you missed it!

The webinar was moderated by Stephanie Cowle, Director, Knowledge Translation at Parachute, in conversation with panellists Dr. Emily McCullogh from York University, Jennie Geleff from The Centre for Active Transportation and Shabnem Afzal from WATT Consulting Group.

Watch the webinar recording

Infographic  - Are you thinking about …equity? 

Many of the issues discussed by the Change for Good Roads participants were rooted in the concern that our current society is built on systems that inherently exclude certain populations. To ensure that roads and other public spaces are equitable for everyone, stakeholders involved in road safety should focus on strategies to uncover, identify, acknowledge and address the inequities in our current systems. This infographic helps road safety stakeholders explore the importance of equity in public urban spaces as a key component of healthy, active, safe and liveable urban roads. This is the first in a series of four related Vision Zero infographics Parachute is producing in 2023. Download the infographic [PDF]

Q&A - The role of equity in road safety and mobility interventions

To gain a better understanding of the role of equity in road safety and mobility, we spoke with Dr. Emily McCullogh. She is a postdoctoral fellow at York University in the Faculty of Health Science working under the direction of Dr. Alison Macpherson and Dr. Sarah Richmond at Public Health Ontario. McCullough conducted her doctoral work in the fields of sociology and philosophical ethics and examined care and caring within coach-athlete relationships in youth competitive sport; however, her research scope has expanded to include road safety, injury prevention and the built environment. Upon completing her PhD, she joined a pan-Canadian research team dedicated to reducing road-related injuries and deaths, as well as promoting active transportation. Her ongoing work focuses on accessibility, equity and the built environment, as well as system-based approaches to safe mobility in Canada. Read the Q&A

Change for Good Roads webinar

In 2022, Parachute brought together 20 organizations, including CNIB, 880 Cities, Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF), ParticipACTION, Green Communities Canada, Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP), The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) and Creating Healthy & Sustainable Environments (CHASE Canada). Parachute developed Change for Good Roads, a national report that reflects the consensus of ideas and proposed actions of the collective representatives. The report outlines five strategic areas of focus to encourage unified action across all sectors to create safe, active, healthy and sustainable urban roads across Canada.

Stay tuned for more information on a live panel discussion that will bring together influential Canadian experts from the sectors of sustainable cities, equity, health and wellbeing and road safety to discuss how to move the needle on support for road safety through multi-sectoral collaboration in Canada. This webinar is building on the findings from our Change for Good Roads report. More details and registration coming soon!

Parachute’s Valerie Smith named Ontario’s Road Safety Professional of the Year For 26 years, the Ministry of Transportation Ontario's annual Road Safety Achievement Awards recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals, groups, and organizations. In November, Valerie Smith, Parachute's Director of Programs, was named Ontario's Road Safety Professional of the Year for leading Parachute's Vision Zero work, including initiatives such as Change for Good Roads and National Teen Driver Safety Week. Congratulations!

#EndDeathOnOurRoads campaign gets Ontario boost

Thanks to funding from the Ministry of Transportation Ontario, Parachute will be promoting its #EndDeathOnOurRoads campaign within the province, with roadside billboards and an online social media campaign throughout January 2023. We’ll be promoting six animated videos, produced by Parachute, highlight key findings from our 2021 Road Safety Survey that uncovered many misperceptions of what people think creates safer roads, versus what actually does reduce injuries and deaths, based on from evidence-based analysis.

Vision Zero in the news - We are monitoring news about Vision Zero in Canada to select the top stories we find and summarize them for you.

·    Canadian community initiatives working towards transportation equity (Mobilizing Justice blog post, Aug. 9, 2022). Transport poverty occurs when inequitable transportation infrastructure and systems impede access to employment, services, educational opportunities, food, open space and leisure and other destinations. People all across Canada are experiencing this – some estimates suggest up to 1.3 million Canadians live in transport poverty.

·    More drivers admit to using their phone while driving (ICBC news release, Aug. 30, 2022). A new Ipsos survey commissioned by Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) reveals that more B.C. drivers are using their phones to talk or text while they’re behind the wheel. Of those surveyed, 43 per cent of drivers admit to using their phone at least once out of every 10 trips – up from 33 per cent in 2019.

·    New speed cameras in Toronto only part of the solution, road safety advocates warn (CBC, Nov. 6, 2022). Road safety advocates are applauding the installation of 25 new speed enforcement cameras around Toronto but they’re warning the city can’t depend on the devices alone to meet the city’s goal of eliminating road fatalities.

·    Halifax roads are safer, but more needs to be done: Cleary (The Signal, Nov. 23, 2022). A plan to reduce injuries and fatalities from traffic collisions has made progress in making Halifax’s streets safer, but more needs to be done to make the streets safe and accessible for everyone.

·    Where ‘Vision Zero’ Is Working (Bloomberg, Nov. 25, 2022). A recent chart and report from the International Transport Forum, “Monitoring Progress in Urban Road Safety,” the authors compare the decrease in road traffic deaths across 22 major cities that participated in a pledge to reduce traffic deaths.

·    Right Of Way (Maisonneuve Magazine, Dec. 16, 2022). Urban planners have long known how to keep pedestrians safe on our streets, Lana Hall reports. However, fatalities continue to persist despite the fact that many Canadian cities have adopted an approach called Vision Zero, which has proven successful in transforming the relationship between drivers and pedestrians in cities across the world.

·    A chance to reimagine road safety (Winnipeg Free Press, Dec. 19, 2022). The language we use rarely humanize a driver’s role in vehicle collisions. We more commonly use object-based language that describes a vehicle doing something rather than a driver. This ambiguity is uniquely reserved for those operating motor vehicles, as we would never say a bike injured a pedestrian. We would say a cyclist did.

 

We hope these resources help you as you continue to work on Vision Zero and make your communities and roads safer. If you would like to continue to receive the Parachute Vision Zero Word on the Street updates, please join the network today! We would like to thank our partner and sponsor Desjardins Insurance for supporting Parachute Vision Zero.

 

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