Concern growing for pedestrian safety in Halifax

HALIFAX – Just before seven o’clock this morning, a 39-year-old man was struck in a marked crosswalk at the intersection of Kempt and Young Streets by a car turning left from Kempt Road onto Young Street. He suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to hospital by EHS. A 59-year-old woman was issued a summary offence ticket under section 125(1) of the Motor Vehicle Act for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

Less than seven hours later, a 67-year-old woman was hit, this time while crossing at the intersection of Hollis Street and Terminal Road by a car turning left from Hollis Street onto Terminal Road driven by a 38-year-old woman. The pedestrian suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to hospital by EHS.

The rise in pedestrian accidents is a disturbing trend, one that isn’t getting any better.

“A collision between a two ton vehicle and a pedestrian, a pedestrian will lose no matter what, injuries will occur, and we’ve seen it, people will die from these injuries,” says Cst.Pierre Bourdages, Halifax Regional Police. Statistically, police expect more collisions to happen between pedestrians and vehicles this time of year. “You have commute in the morning and night in darkened hours, there’s more rain, there’s more fog, there’s more snow. it’s a reminder for both driver and pedestrian you need to be visible,” He tells Global News.

Pedestrians like Amber Heritt say close calls happen all too often in the city. “It’s always scary, I mean, if you’re a driver, you have to watch for pedestrians, isn’t that the law?”

The city says they’ve been doing more than usual around crosswalk safety.

“Over on Waverley Road we got the crosswalk flags back, I seen them from 500 meters away, we have the zebra stripes, we’re doing a lot of things,” says Darren Fisher, Councillor.

At the end of the day, everyone agrees both pedestrians and drivers need to pay more attention.

“It’s a shared responsibility, everyone’s heard that. But it’s still happening, and it’s still happening in record numbers. it doesn’t matter if we light every intersection up like a christmas tree, people will still get hit if they do not pay attention” Fisher says.

Crosswalk safety advocates say there’s one key thing missing.

“I think what’s missing is serious enforcement,” Norm Collins tells Global News.

Police say both pedestrians and drivers can be ticketed. This year, the vast majority of tickers have been issued to drivers.

“I know the police were out this week and out last week, they issued nine tickets. I’m sorry but that’s not going to change people’s behaviour, we need to get into the thousands,” Collins adds.