Road safety advocates say Ottawa must double down on 'Vision Zero' goal

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Between 2019 and 2023, there were 598 collisions — about 12 per 100,000 population — resulting in serious injury or death, according to 2024 data from the City of Ottawa.

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Smith said the five-year average was down from the period between 2013 and 2017, when there were 743 fatal or serious injury collisions.

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Twenty-per-cent reduction ‘not enough’

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“It’s the same as planning for 80 per cent as being an acceptable fatal and major injury rate,” he said.

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“If our roads were a workplace, what workplace would accept having death or injury as just an acceptable way of doing operations? And yet Ottawa has a written policy for 20-per-cent reduction in fatal major injuries per year.”

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William van Geest, executive director of Ecology Ottawa, says the City of Ottawa continues to build roads and intersections that inherently prioritize drivers. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

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William van Geest, executive director of Ecology Ottawa, shares that sentiment. He says the city continues to build roads and intersections that inherently prioritize drivers.

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He says this further reinforces existing “road hierarchy,” which puts convenience for drivers ahead of community accessibility.

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Van Geest gave the example of construction of Laurier Avenue and Elgin Street. Although the intersection is theoretically meant to increase safety for “vulnerable road users like people on bicycles and pedestrians,” crossing time increases because the two roads are wide, increasing pedestrian risk, he said.

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Nine fatalities from collisions so far this year

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The Ottawa Police Service reported an increase in deaths caused by vehicle collisions in the first four and a half months of this year.

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According to the OPS Traffic Collisions Snapshot, there were nine reported fatal injuries between Jan. 1 and May 16, up from five during the same period in 2025.

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Meanwhile, non-fatal injuries decreased to 359 from 437 (18 per cent), according to the snapshot.

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Families left ‘picking up the pieces’

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Those are three of the names of those who have lost their lives this year in Ottawa because of serious collisions, just part of the story behind the 2026 statistics reported by police.

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“Even injuries of some kind can be life-altering for people,” Hircock said.

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He said Vision Zero Ottawa had conversations with families who lost loved ones or had dealt with injuries.

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“It changes their life, how they work, how they go about their daily activities, and we see on Ottawa’s roads that families are left picking up the pieces,” he added.

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Hircock’s daughter is now in Grade 9, so he doesn’t walk her to school anymore, but he still worries for her safety.

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“Safety is not a shared responsibility because it’s not shared in consequence,” he said.

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