Elections
Do you support the "Vision Zero" goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Hamilton? If so, what specific actions would you take to implement this policy? If not, why not?
Responses to the question: "Do you support the "Vision Zero" goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Hamilton? If so, what specific actions would you take to implement this policy? If not, why not?"
In This Page:
3 Candidate Responses (top)
| Ward 14 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Iszkula, Robert | Yes | Yes, our current road designs encourage dangerous situations because they are built to accommodate high speeds through neighbourhoods where people live. We can have streets that are efficient and convenient for drivers while making it safe for all users, whether they are driving, walking or cycling. Separated on-street facilities for bikes are a perfect example: they remove slower bike traffic from car lanes, improving driving efficiencies, while at the same time creating a safe space for cyclists and a buffer between cars and pedestrians. The most dangerous encounters happen at intersections. By adopting best practises that have been tested in other municipalities, we can make our intersections much safer for all users by removing "ramp" style turn lanes from residential areas, tightening turning radii, and creating clearer pavement markings. I also support truck route bylaws and enforcement to keep large trucks from using residential neighbourhoods as shortcuts. |
| Whitehead, Terry | No | I certainly support the concept and principle of eliminating deaths and carnage on our roadways; this I am confident we can all agree on. My only real concern with "vision zero" is that it leads to a false expectation that will never be realized. We can never truly eliminate deaths on the roadways. This is simply a sad reality that no one is happy about but there will always be careless individuals using our roadways whether in cars, on motorcycles or bicycles; people make mistakes, exercise poor judgement and accidents happen as they always have and always will.
It is admirable that anyone should think we can completely eliminate deaths on our roads but we cannot. Herein lies my issue with the vision zero concept. As it is with any other issue, there must be realistic targets and benchmarking that Council can be held accountable for. Vision zero sets an impossible target that can never be realized despite its laudable objectives. This is not a practical framework for Council to be measured. The framework should develop a metrics that looks at collisions, fatalities etc in our community in a holistic way. Council can work with staff to set realistic objectives that can be achieved that will continue improving the safety of our road network. If those targets are not being met, then that is truly a way of holding Council accountable. |
| Wilson, Bryan | Yes | Yes I do. There is no reason anyone should die while walking down the road. We need two way streets in downtown Hamilton. We also need more and better transit to encourage less cars downtown and more biking, walking and transit use. There is also no reason whatsoever for a downtown core to have a five lane one way road that cuts straight through it. This is just asking for trouble. this could be converted to two land two way streets with wider walkways/ bike paths and trees/ green space to brighten up the downtown core.
We need to stop designing our streets wide and straight in urban areas. Unless our goal is for people to drive straight through. But that's what highways are for. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 2 | 66.7% |
| No | 1 | 33.3% |
| Maybe | 0 | 0.0% |
2 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Ward 14 | ||
|---|---|---|
| French-Sanges, Roslyn | ||
| Samuel, Vincent | ||
