{"id":15856,"date":"2010-11-19T16:53:03","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T20:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=15856"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:45:19","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:45:19","slug":"sharing-responsibility-for-pedestrian-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/11\/19\/sharing-responsibility-for-pedestrian-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing responsibility for pedestrian safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yesterday, a Canadian Press story made the media rounds<\/a> noting a small spike in pedestrians hit by vehicles in Toronto, including one death on Wednesday and one seriously injured child.<\/p>\n

As is so often the case, the police response quoted in the article focused entirely on the role of pedestrians in these collisions. Sgt. Tim Burrows is quoted as saying that the adverse weather (heavy rain and wind) may have played a factor:<\/p>\n

\u201cPedestrians sometimes want to get out of the elements really quick,\u201d he said. \u201cThey may sacrifice their own personal safety doing that, not taking that extra precaution of stopping, looking, listening \u2013 the good basic safety principles that protect us all.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I can’t say whether this was all that Sgt. Burrows said or whether the reporter chose this focus, but it is frustrating to see. (Addendum: in a blog post on this subject<\/a> also published today, Sgt. Burrows indicates that his safety messages are<\/em> often left incomplete in media reports. H\/t Jonathan Goldsbie).<\/em><\/p>\n

The fact is, both drivers and pedestrians play a role in collisions, and it’s equally important for police and the media to remind drivers to drive more carefully and make more effort to watch for pedestrians when weather is bad and visibility low, as it is to remind pedestrians to be more careful. Media coverage of pedestrian safety is rare enough \u2014 it’s important to use the opportunity to get the safety message across to drivers as well as people on foot.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In fact, just last week the police conducted a pedestrian safety campaign, ticketing both drivers who endangered pedestrians, and pedestrians who engaged in risky behaviour. Not only is the press release announcing the results<\/a> (PDF) commendably even-handed (“All motorists, cyclists and pedestrians are reminded that road safety is everyone\u2019s responsibility”), but the results show that over 10,000 tickets were issued to drivers, and just over 1,000 to pedestrians. The results may be skewed (perhaps pedestrians were more often given warnings), but it nonetheless shows that driver behaviour plays a significant role in causing collisions with people on foot, and needs to be addressed as well.<\/p>\n

The timing of the police safety campaign was well-chosen \u2014 it took place right after the end of daylight savings time, when evening rush hour is suddenly taking place in darkness. A pedestrian collisions study<\/a> done by the City of Toronto a few years back showed that there was often an increase in collisions in October and November, most likely because of increasing darkness during the busy rush hour. (Regrettably, the study did not go into the depth that would have been needed to confirm this cause).<\/p>\n

It makes a lot of sense to try to remind people that they need to be more careful at a time when we know there is increased danger, but a police enforcement campaign may not be sufficient \u2014 it did not generate a lot of publicity, and targeting individual behaviours is just a drop in the bucket. As well, the campaign was not explicit about the danger of increasing darkness, and we still ended up with a spike in collisions.<\/p>\n

What would really make sense is a public education campaign produced by the City, with ads (maybe in bus shelters), telling both drivers and pedestrians explicitly that collisions increase as the days get shorter. A targeted campaign like that might be more memorable that the usual vague public education campaigns, and it might actually reduce the number collisions and subsequent injuries.<\/p>\n

photo by Sam Javanrouh<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, a Canadian Press story made the media rounds noting a small spike in pedestrians hit by vehicles in Toronto, including one death on Wednesday and one seriously injured child. As is so often the case, the police response quoted in the article focused entirely on the role of pedestrians in these collisions. Sgt. 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