In light of increasing use of vehicles as deadly weapons in crowds, does security need to be increased at public gatherings in your community?

Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam

Vancouver Police look over a black car believed to be involved in an incident where a vehicle drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on Saturday April 26, 2025. There has been a number of fatalities and numerous injuries.

A car ramming Saturday at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver that killed 11 people marks at least the fourth attack in seven years in which vehicles have been deployed as deadly weapons against groups of people in Canada.

Perpetrators fuelled by motives ranging from terrorism and far-right extremism to misogyny and mental illness have turned increasingly to the tactic in recent decades.

Vehicles are "easily obtainable, and a ramming attack requires little preparation" or skill, notes a 2018 study from San Jose State University's Mineta Transportation Institute.

The gruesome practice has also proven devastating, yielding a high death toll in horrific fashion when crowds are gathered.

"It is in fact an effective tactic for motivated individuals to do harm, if you think about it, because it doesn't require any special training," said Jennifer Magnus, who teaches public safety and law enforcement at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont.

"They can grab a vehicle, whether they rent it or use their own, and then just use it as a weapon against innocent bystanders."

Magnus, who served as a Calgary police officer for 14 years, also stressed the trauma and dread spawned by mass killings.

"It creates that level of fear in citizens."

Vancouver's interim police chief said a 30-year-old local man was arrested in the Saturday night attack, which saw a black Audi SUV plow through a crowded South Vancouver street at high speed. Police said 11 people had died as of Sunday afternoon, with dozens more injured.

Police said on social media platform X they were “confident” the attack was not an act of terrorism.

Nonetheless, the methods of defending against vehicle-based attacks overlap with counterterrorist prevention, relying on physical barriers, emergency planning, intelligence and social media monitoring.

With the threat of rammings on the rise, authorities have tried to insulate public spaces from easy assaults, installing metal bollards — stubby steel posts designed to stop a car from breaching busy streets or buildings.

New York City is one of several whose streetscapes are being reshaped by anti-vehicle obstacles. It has erected hundreds of bollards at popular spots after two high-profile vehicle attacks in 2017.

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