Advocates Demand Bollards at Hornby Street to Enhance Pedestrian Safety

An advocacy group is urging the City of Vancouver to install bollards along Hornby Street, aiming to enhance pedestrian safety in an area that has witnessed multiple dangerous incidents. The segment of Hornby between Pacific and Dunsmuir has been the site of several alarming occurrences where vehicles have mounted the sidewalk, resulting in injuries to pedestrians. Vision Zero Vancouver, dedicated to promoting road safety, is proposing a pilot project to test the effectiveness of bollards—short, vertical posts designed to separate pedestrians from vehicular traffic.

Margie Sanderson, the director of organizing at Vision Zero Vancouver, highlighted the urgent need for protective measures, stating, “This stretch of Hornby has seen four horrific incidents of drivers coming onto the sidewalk in recent years.” One of the most tragic incidents occurred in 2021, when a 23-month-old baby was killed after a vehicle collided with another at Hornby and Smithe, sending one car onto the sidewalk where her father was carrying her. The child succumbed to her injuries immediately.

Additional serious incidents in this section include a vehicle jumping a curb and striking a mother and child, a Honda crashing into a dental office, and a car veering off course while parallel parking, injuring several pedestrians. Sanderson emphasized that “bollards would be an intervention to keep people safe on the sidewalk, right, which is really like a bare minimum to expect — that if you’re standing on the sidewalk, you are safe from being hit by a car.”

Proposed Solution and Broader Context

Bollards are sturdy posts, typically made from metal, designed to withstand vehicle impact. Major cities across North America, including New York City, have implemented bollards in various areas to safeguard pedestrians. Vision Zero Vancouver is advocating for the City to utilize Hornby as a potential pilot project for this initiative. If successful, the group hopes to see similar measures adopted in other high-risk locations throughout the city.

“It’s a very busy area. It’s in our downtown core. It’s got lots of pedestrian activity, shopping attractions, and so it’s a prime type of area where other cities would use bollards,” Sanderson explained. “We think this would be a natural place to start.”

Despite the clear need for action, the reasons behind the repeated crashes on Hornby Street remain uncertain. Sanderson pointed out, “Broadly, we do know why these things happen. We do know that we have a transportation system that prioritizes vehicle speed, vehicle throughput, over safety.” She added that thorough investigations into vehicle crashes are often lacking, making it difficult to fully understand the underlying causes.

Call for Action

According to Sanderson, there is a pressing need to redesign streets to prioritize safety over vehicle speed. “We know that incidents like we’ve seen on Hornby will continue to happen until there are multiple layers of protection in place in that area. And we think that the failure to act is complicity.”

As the City of Vancouver considers this proposal, the call for increased safety measures on Hornby Street continues to grow louder, underscoring the urgent need for protective interventions to ensure pedestrian safety in urban environments.