KELOWNA – Community policing volunteers handed out reflectors to people at Kelowna’s Orchard Park Mall bus loop Thursday. They also discussed pedestrian safety.
It’s part of an ICBC province-wide education campaign launched this week to help keep pedestrians safe.
“We want to make sure the drivers are seeing the pedestrians so we are giving away reflectors. They can put them on their backpacks, purses, that sort of thing. When a car comes up to them, the light reflects off, and the drivers have a chance to see them,” says Christine Silver, Road Safety Coordinator at ICBC.
According to ICBC, an average 240 pedestrians are injured and 12 are killed in crashes every year in the southern interior.
In Kelowna, the annual average is 67 pedestrians injured and three killed.
Police say this is the time of year when pedestrians are at the highest risk.
“I think it’s three quarters of all pedestrian crashes happen during the winter months,” says Cst. Kris Clark with Kelowna RCMP.
Clark adds distracted driving is a major cause of pedestrian crashes.
Silver says free reflectors are available at community policing offices.
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