In Canada, Alliance member Parachute is mobilizing communities to raise their voices for safe streets and demand action from decision-makers. By empowering citizens to identify risks, propose solutions, and advocate for change, Parachute is putting into practice the principles of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030, which calls for coordinated, community-driven actions to hold the government accountable and keep road safety on the agenda.
According to Valerie Smith, Director of Road Safety at Parachute, Canada, “community engagement connects the bottom-up with traditionally top-down policies. When communities mobilize and take collective action, they help pressure governments to align priorities and act.” In Canada, where responsibilities are divided across municipal, provincial, and federal levels, this connection is vital. Community voices often provide the link that ensures national policies translate into tangible, local action, says Valerie Smith.
Parachute’s approach centers on empowering people to participate actively in shaping safe environments. Through its initiatives such as Snap for Change (which tailors the Mobility Snapshots approach to local contexts), and Vision Zero and Safe Mobility Walkshops, Parachute brings citizens, local officials, engineers, and police together to walk through neighborhoods, discuss challenges, and propose solutions to improve safety. “This way, the government and all concerned stakeholders see the broken sidewalks, the missing crossing, and the high-speed street which makes them see that the issues are tangible,” Valerie Smith explains. “These sessions also help generate place-based solutions that communities own and advocate for, creating shared accountability among decision-makers and residents.
These efforts have contributed to real change, says Valerie Smith. “In Saint John, New Brunswick, community-based advocacy contributed to the installation of a new bike lane and flashing pedestrian light; in Toronto, Ontario, a new stop sign was installed near a school.” Each small win demonstrates how community advocacy can push for evidence-based interventions that directly support the Global Plan’s targets.
For Valerie Smith, community-driven action is not an optional add-on but a foundation of progress. “Without the voices and lived experiences of community members, even the best plans can stall,” she notes. Empowered communities identify real risks, build ownership, and sustain the momentum that drives accountability.
She advises NGOs that achieving the Global Plan targets require engagement with communities as an advocacy strategy. “When people in a neighbourhood walk the sidewalks, ride the bikes, cross the streets and feel the risks every day — they hold a key to unlocking change. Engaging them means building ownership, identifying the real problems (not just what the expert thinks the problem is), and generating momentum that travels from the bottom up to policy makers.”
