Pedestrians

The School Safety Patrol Program is a public service provided free of charge to elementary schools by the BCAA. Part of the CAA's School Safety Patrol Program it is recognized as an outstanding initiative for reducing injuries and deaths among 5-12 year olds.

Over the five years ending with 2012 B.C. saw an average of 2,300 pedestrian involved collisions with 2,400 injuries and 60 fatalities. Almost 42% of these were aged 61 or over. Males tend to be involved more often with 35 deaths each year compared to 25 female deaths.

Older pedestrians are less likely to survive a collision than younger people. It is also a fact of life that aging brings with it a reduction in perceptual abilities such as poorer vision, depth perception and increased chance of confusion. Add bad walking habits to the mix and an already risky situation becomes worse. All of the things that we teach our children to survive in traffic are equally applicable to older pedestrians.

Pedestrian Injury and Human Behaviour: Observing Road-Rule Violations at High-Incident Intersections is a study conducted by researchers from Simon Fraser University. They examined seven intersections in Vancouver known for the high incidence of pedestrian collisions.

This incident took place at the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Gosworth Road in Victoria. Lisa MacKnight was crossing in the crosswalk following the directions of the pedestrian controlled signals as Ryan Nast approached riding a bicycle. Mr. Nast passed stopped traffic on the right hand side and intended to go through the intersection on the red until he saw Ms. MacKnight step into the crosswalk. He tried to brake but was not successful and struck her causing significant injury to her.

A lot of people don't follow the so called rules when walking or riding bicycles. The rule of ride with traffic ....ride on the right side of the road. The real bad one I see is of all ages. People not walking toward traffic.

They walk on the right and have no chance to get out of the way of on coming dangers.

At the beginning of last December I wrote about my experiences as a pedestrian at night in the lower mainland of BC and how dangerous it can be. This time I'm going to admire my neighbour who goes out in all weather to walk her dogs. When it's dark she wears a white LED headlight with a reflective vest and she puts a red LED light on the collar of each dog. There's no mistaking them as they walk along the road edge!

Does a person being investigated for committing an offence under the Motor Vehicle Act have to provide their full name and address to the officer who demands it? It is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada to obstruct an officer in the execution of their duty. A jaywalker in North Vancouver learned this the hard way.

This is the story of Lenord Russell, who exited a bakery in a mall and walked forward into a parking stall at the same time that Kenneth Parks drove into it to park his vehicle. A collision occurred in which Mr. Russell suffered injury to his knee and foot. The case before the court was to decide who was liable for the collision and discusses first that the mall parking lot is a highway and then goes on to examine the duties that Mr. Russell and Mr. Parks had to each other as pedestrian and driver.

My life is usually mostly rural in character, but I've been visiting Surrey this week as both a driver and a pedestrian. Given the spate of vehicle / pedestrian collisions in the news lately it has been interesting to consider how they happen in light of my unusual surroundings. I think that a large component of the problem is haste with drivers and lack of attention by pedestrians.