“I would never rely on thinking that if somebody sees a [speed limit] sign they will read it and think to slow down — I just have no faith in that,” said Steve Veitch, a lawyer and avid cyclist who has spent the past decade cycling the outskirts of UBC along Marine Drive. Veitch, along with other users of UBC’s arterial roads, is challenging the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's (MOTI) claims about recent safety upgrades to a notoriously dangerous stretch.
In 2021, multiple pedestrians were struck by cars while on the sidewalk or crossing the road, sparking renewed calls for increased safety measures. In late September 2021, two student pedestrians were killed by a speeding car near Totem Park’s c̓əsnaʔəm house. And just a few days later, another pedestrian was injured after a car failed to stop at the crosswalk near the Chan Centre.
According to a 2023 report by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), in BC, an average of 53 pedestrians are killed and over 2,300 people are injured in traffic collisions annually. The report cites excessive speed — particularly speeds of over 40 km/h — as a major factor in these incidents.
Following the two collisions in 2021, members of the UBC community pressed MOTI for a closer review of the road's poor nighttime visibility and the lack of traffic-calming measures to reduce speeds to 40 km/h.
MOTI oversees the stretch, running from SW to NW Marine Drive and has made several safety improvements to the road since 2021, including installing a permanent speed reader board at the meeting of NW and SW Marine Drive, where the speed limit now decreases to 40 km/h, and a new pedestrian-controlled crosswalk at the intersection of NW Marine Drive and Cecil Green Park Road with rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs).
This is part of a broader initiative to address safety concerns along the UBC boundary with Marine Drive which is a popular route for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, many of whom are members of the university community — but was it enough to make the stretch significantly safer and address community concerns?
Bridges and gaps
In a written statement to The Ubyssey, Murray Sinclair, a public affairs officer with MOTI, emphasized that improving safety on the provincially managed roads near UBC is a ministry priority.
Sinclair highlighted improvements along the stretch, including enhanced signage, upgraded street lighting with energy-efficient LEDs and roadside delineators along the four-lane to two-lane transition at the Marine Drive corridor.
In an August 2022 Ubyssey article, MOTI pointed to a then-ongoing high-level review of ministry-operated traffic corridors in and out of UBC. The review was set to be completed later that summer to propose more long-term solutions to the current transportation needs of the area. Most of these improvements were already proposed or installed when the review was announced.
“Ultimately, MoTI is a highway agency and its design guidelines prioritize vehicle throughput over the safety of vulnerable road users,” Ruofan Wang wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey.
Wang is a volunteer with Vision Zero Vancouver, a non-profit advocating for safer transportation. He said MOTI failed to adequately address pedestrian and cyclist safety on UBC’s arterial roads and that the ministry's efforts fall short of addressing the needs of vulnerable road users.
“MOTI has created dangerous gaps in UBC’s transportation network,” Wang wrote. “From bikeways that dump cyclists into multi-lane roundabouts, to crosswalks that require pedestrians to cross multiple high-speed slip lanes.”
Wang said the ministry’s emphasis on vehicle flow over the safety of pedestrians and cyclists is the root cause of these problems.
“While this may make some sense for a freeway, it is clearly inappropriate for UBC’s community streets that move thousands of cyclists, pedestrians and transit riders each day.”
One speed hump at a time
“I don’t find physical things like a [speed board] to be particularly effective,” said Veitch. Veitch argued that, while MOTI’s recent infrastructure upgrades were well-intentioned, they are "cute" and have had little impact on traffic safety.
“I would suggest speed bumps to be put up along the way to encourage drivers to slow down,” he said.
According to the BC Community Road Safety Toolkit, speed humps can slow down vehicle speeds to 30 km/h at each hump. But, MOTI has yet to put this addition into action on the stretch. As physical speed reduction measures, the toolkit recommends that speed humps be combined with speed reader boards to improve speed limit compliance.
Manager of Transportation Engineering at UBC Campus + Community Planning Krista Falkner commended the ministry’s latest infrastructural changes.
“We continue to advocate for the timely implementation of these measures,” Falkner wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey, noting UBC has been working closely with University RCMP and MOTI on safety and speed enforcement enhancements on provincially held roads like Marine Drive to and from campus.
Falkner highlighted the ministry’s Active Transportation study, which details long-term plans for “dedicated facilities for active modes (walking, biking and rolling) that are separated from vehicle lanes,” wrote Falkner.
“The safety of the UBC community is a top priority for the university.”
Contending with campervans
For James Schultz, a maintenance worker with Mainroad Lower Mainland Contracting LP, which maintains UBC’s roads, enforcement is key to making progress on the road’s use.
Schultz has spent the past two years patrolling the area for safety risks such as fallen trees and floods. While he acknowledged the positive impact of recent infrastructure, he believes more attention should be given to enforcement, particularly concerning camper vans parked along the road at night.
The City of Vancouver warns that parking on boulevards disrupts traffic flow, posing serious risks to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians and potentially creating unsafe road conditions. Under the city's current parking bylaw, vehicles parked in these areas could face hefty fines and may even be towed if deemed abandoned.
B.C.’s Active Transportation Design Guide, updated in 2019, recommends that on-street parking be arranged in intermittent pockets along shared spaces to prevent it from dominating the area. But, MOTI’s implementation of this recommendation near UBC remains to be seen.
“That one stretch where Wreck Beach is, where you’re entering those curves, there’s at least [six camper vans parked regularly],” Schultz noted. This issue intensified after the Vancouver Park Board evicted camper vans from Spanish Bank’s parking lot in February 2023, Schultz explained, forcing people to relocate further up NW Marine Drive to the entrance of Wreck Beach.
Schultz worries that unless law enforcement steps up to remove these vehicles, the situation will continue to pose a serious risk to road safety.
“Unfortunately, it seems like everything is reactionary,” said Schultz. “[But] if word gets out that, ‘Hey I’ve got a ticket’, maybe [then] their buddy, the next time they go through there, will slow down.”
Veitch, who currently is in recovery from a motor vehicle collision he suffered while cycling in Spain, is acutely cautious when passing the bend above Wreck Beach, where poor road conditions, pedestrians crossing unpredictably and the risk of car doors opening unexpectedly pose additional hazards.
“Some of the issues will never be solvable,” Veitch said. “You can’t solve [pedestrian and cyclist risks] in a university setting.” But, as Veitch argued, addressing the most pressing issues, like speeding, could make a real difference.
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