Intersections can be dangerous — even deadly — for pedestrians and cyclists, warns a new national study from the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA).
CAA examined 20 intersections across Canada over a seven-month period, recording a whopping 600,000 near-misses, as well as one potentially fatal incident per intersection each day.
CAA’s Kristine D’Arbelle told Global Winnipeg the study’s results can help to design a future framework to prevent injuries and deaths on the roads.
“In finding those pain points and … issues in intersections, we were also able to identify some key design features that could reduce risk of near misses,” D’Arbelle said.
“In these intersections, when we saw a separate right-turn lane, there were fewer conflicts between a pedestrian/cyclist and a vehicle.”
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Vehicle making right turns accounted for more than half of near-misses with pedestrians and cyclists, the study found.
D’Arbelle said there are things drivers can do to help keep intersections safe.
“We know right turns are where most of those conflicts happen. Vehicles, when you’re about to do a right turn, slow down, check that blind spot, and make sure there’s no cyclists or pedestrians in that blind spot.”
To try and boost safety at intersections, Winnipeg has implemented leading pedestrian intervals at some downtown crosswalks — giving pedestrians a brief head start with the walk signal before cars get the green light.
CAA said the data was collected at different types of intersections in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.C., Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The organization partnered with traffic-monitoring company Miovision to detect near misses and assess risk levels with the help of AI-powered video analytics.
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