VICTORIA — B.C. wants to make roads safer and healthier for rural and Indigenous communities.
Officials announced that B.C.’s Vision Zero grant program will provide total funding of up to $575,000 to organizations to support local road safety improvements, with those who qualify receiving up to $20,000 per project.
Vision Zero grants are provided by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. Vancouver Coastal Health contributed $84,000.
The funding was provided through the regional health authorities to local governments, Indigenous governments and non-government organizations, like school districts and road safety advocacy groups, to help them plan projects that will directly improve the safety of roads in their communities.
This year, the 37 approved projects are spread throughout every health authority. Of these, 16 are from and in Indigenous communities. Projects can include improvements such as crosswalk infrastructure, closed streets, traffic calming, speed limit reduction pilots, walk signals that give a head start to pedestrians, speed reader boards, mixed use paths, better lighting and signs and road safety planning.
According to the province, injuries and deaths on the road are a major cause of health care system usage and affect patient and health system capacity. Each year, these incidents result in $300 million in direct health care costs.
This is the first year Vision Zero grant funding has been provided widely to all health authorities. In the past, grant funding under the Vision Zero program was provided by Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health and implemented in those two authorities in at least one previous fiscal year.
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