A new transportation 'philosophy':Windsor moves forward with Vision Zero

Windsor city council has given administration the green light to put together a Vision Zero Policy, in order to shift how the city approaches road traffic safety.

"This is a philosophy change," saidKlaus Dohring, an engineer with Green Sun Rising, who was one of the speakers at Monday's council meeting.

This approach, he explained, requires a change in thinking.

Vision Zero is a road traffic framework that aims to achieve a transportation system with zero fatalities or serious injuries by shifting the responsibility of safety away from the onusof individuals, and making it more of a shared responsibility between road users and the municipality.

No longer accepting death and injury as 'inevitable'

Council heard from three delegates, including Jennifer Escott with BikeWindsor Essex.All delegates urged the city to move forward with the project.

"We can no longer accept death and injury as the inevitable cost of moving around our community," said Escott, stressingthat everyone will benefit from this system and that it would make Windsor's streets safer for all.

It was Coun. Chris Holt who first asked the administration to look into the potential of implementing the framework in Windsor last year. Holt said he was pleased to see council approve this firststep in the process.

The idea was first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, and has since been adopted by municipalities around the world.

According to a report presented to council, many Canadian cities including Hamilton, London and Toronto have either adopted Vision Zero, or are in the process of developing a plan.

'City taking responsibility'

Graham Larkin, the executive director of Vision Zero Canada, explained that the city would need to implement fail-safe systems.

Examples of that include improved speed regulations, crosswalks, protected bike lines, and so forth, all in an effort to consider how people can safely intermix, whether they're in a car, on a bicycle, or walking.

"It's about the city taking responsibility for designing out the conflict and that requires a lot of political will," said Larkin.

According to the report, the most established Vision Zero program in the continent is in New York City.

Since its adoption in 2014, the report indicates that overall traffic fatalities city-wide decreased 15 per cent from 275 per year to 235 per year.

In terms of funding, there is no dedicated funding source identified by Windsor at this point.

The report to council indicated that the City of London has indicated that it will cost $125,000 per year within London's capital budget to implement a similar policy.