Vision Zero Road Safety Plan

Project Background

The City of Markham has completed the development of a comprehensive five-year Road Safety Plan (RSP) to address the persistent issue of collisions, which have resulted in significant injuries and fatalities, and have included pedestrians and cyclists. Between 2015 and 2021, the city recorded 1,362 injuries and three fatalities from traffic accidents, with an average of one collision occurring every 11 hours and one fatal or injury collision every two days. Despite various road safety initiatives, such as the Speed Management Program and Active School Travel Program, the city recognized the need for a new, holistic approach to road safety. The RSP aims to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries through a data-driven, Safe System approach that emphasizes stakeholder and public engagement, inclusiveness, and political commitment. The plan builds on current safety initiatives and seeks to enhance road safety for all users, irrespective of their mode of transportation. The Vision Zero Road Safety Plan was endorsed by Council in February 2026. 

Documents

Vision Zero Road Safety Plan – Final Report 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

 What is this Plan about? 

Road safety is an issue of great importance locally, nationally, and internationally. Motor vehicle collisions cause death and disability, resulting in high economic costs, pain and suffering, and life-altering consequences. The City of Markham has completed the development of a Vision Zero Road Safety Plan (RSP) as a comprehensive action plan focused on reducing traffic-related fatalities and injuries on City roads.  

The RSP will be a guidance document containing the vision and mission statements, fundamental principles, and short-term and long-term goals and objectives. In alignment with "Vision Zero" principles, this project will set out the targets, policies, and action plans to guide the City and its road safety partners toward creating safer travel and reducing the number of fatal and serious injury collisions for all road users. The RSP will serve as a roadmap for implementing both short-term solutions and long-term investments over the next five years and beyond in a coordinated and focused manner to prevent injuries and fatalities on our roads. 

 What is Vision Zero? 

Vision Zero is a strategy supported by policies and data to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Vision Zero started in Sweden in 1997 with the premise that everyone has the right to move safely everywhere, and it can never be ethically acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured when moving within the transportation road network. Therefore, system designers, operators, maintenance staff, and policymakers all share the responsibility to provide a Safe System for all travelers irrespective of their chosen mode, income level, race, gender, or physical abilities. Vision Zero is an aspirational long-term vision for road safety and can only be achieved by developing systematic road safety strategies with shorter-term (usually five years) realistic goals and continuous dedication in implementing safety measures throughout the transportation road network. Moreover, the Vision Zero approach requires significant cultural and legislative changes regarding the approach taken toward traffic and road operations, road design, enforcement, injury prevention (health and emergencies services) and education of road users. 

Why now?

Over the past several years, the City of Markham has developed programs and policies, completed several planning studies, and implemented numerous safety initiatives to improve road safety for all road users. These initiatives include the Networkwide Data Collection Program, Speed Management Program, Active Transportation Master Plan, Active School Travel Program, Speed Display Boards, School Zone Centreline Sign Program, Accessibility Design Guidelines, Sidewalk Network Completion Program, and School Crossing Guard Program. The City is also a partner in several other programs carried out by York Region.

Despite all these road safety initiatives, guidelines, and policies to address motor vehicle collisions, on average 870 collisions occur on City roadways each year, out of which over 200 collisions result in a fatality or personal injury. Therefore, the City recognized that a new and broader-based approach is required and has completed the development of a five-year Road Safety Plan. 

Where is the focus of the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan?

This plan is focused on improving the safety of road users travelling across the road network under the City’s jurisdiction, regardless of the roadway classification (such as locals, minor and major collectors) and mode of transportation (such as walking, cycling, driving, or using public transit).  Major arterial roads, such as Highway 7 or Kennedy Road, are under the jurisdiction of York Region and have been earlier reviewed as part of the York Region’s Vision Zero Traveller Safety Plan (York Region’s VZTSP) in 2024. View the York Region’s VZTSP. The boundaries of the City of Markham are shown in Figure 1. 

Throughout the development of the RSP, the following six emphasis (focus) areas were identified: 

1. Intersections; 
2. Vulnerable Road Users; 
3. School Zones; 
4. Aggressive Driving; 
5. Distracted Road Users; and, 
6. Young Drivers. 

Who are the key players in developing this Plan?
 

Throughout the development of the road safety plan, City of Markham worked with the public and a wide range of partners including York Region, York Regional Police, public health, first responders, and groups with strong interest in road safety such as Ministry of Transportation, school boards, and cycling advocacy groups.

The public was engaged in the development of the RSP to build project awareness and provide input on existing problem areas and road safety priorities. Two public information centres (PICs) were held in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.  

The stakeholders were responsible to provide advice and support for the development and implementation of the RSP and were engaged through two in-person stakeholder consultation workshops in Fall 2024 and Winter 2025.

The development of the City’s RSP was informed by the York Region’s Vision Zero Traveller Safety Plan (2024-2028) and York Regional Police Road Safety Strategy (2023-2025) which were developed by two of the key project stakeholders. 

What are the next steps in actioning this Plan? 

The Plan requires commitment from the City and partner agencies to be successfully implemented. In this regard, road safety must become entrenched in our culture. The implementation of the detailed actions for the Plan will require additional resources, leveraging capital infrastructure projects and proper asset management planning. Continuous evaluation, monitoring and reporting will ensure the Plan remains flexible and current, meets the required objectives and tracks fiscal implications.  To assist in monitoring and evaluating the Plan’s effectiveness, some key performance indicators will be developed to track safety performance, travel mode, and cost-benefit.  

In addition, public and stakeholder engagement will be embedded into the road safety measure analysis and design exercise to evaluate impacts on the neighbourhoods and agencies. This will be conducted through the development of a formalized communications strategy, clearly identifying objectives and goals of community engagement efforts, selecting appropriate communications tools for a target audience, developing messaging based on data-driven insights, conducting continuous monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of community engagement efforts, providing dedicated communications staff and training for road safety, and exploring collaboration opportunities with internal and external stakeholders.

The City of Markham’s Vision Zero journey is just beginning. Please periodically check this website for future updates, as we move forward on this ambitious initiative.