Three separate collisions in the past week have resulted in life-threatening injuries for some of Halifax Regional Municipality’s most vulnerable road users.
Both a pedestrian and a cyclist suffered life-threatening injuries in crashes this past week, while a separate collision between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian claimed the life of a female pedestrian.
That incident, which happened on July 22, resulted in a 63-year-old woman’s death after she was struck by a transport truck on Lady Hammond Road.
A decision hasn’t been made yet on whether or not charges will be laid, according to police.
Collectively, the collisions are causing concern for people who frequently walk or cycle throughout the municipality.
“I do see people texting, I see people not checking blind spots, not checking to the right when they make a right turn, all those sorts of things,” said Jillian Banfield, an avid cyclist.
“They just don’t seem to expect people to be cycling or walking, they just seem to assume that they always have the right of away.”
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From January through May, there were 92 collisions involving vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles reported in the municipality, according to statistics gathered by Halifax Regional Police.
While collecting data is one thing, police say determining what’s causing these crashes isn’t as easy.
“There’s no one factor that’s contributing to these,” said Const. Amy Edwards with the Halifax Regional Police. “It’s not only cellphone drivers, it’s not only people that are distracted as pedestrians, but all of those can contribute to any of these incidents.”
As far as Banfield is concerned, the roadway system is generating the bulk of the issues, rather than the actual users themselves.
“The system is entirely set up for people driving cars and not at all for people walking or cycling or doing anything that they’re not protected by a giant metal box. My day-to-day cycling, honestly, I’m terrified every day — people not paying attention when they’re driving but, mainly, the system is set up in a way that doesn’t protect us,” she said.
The municipality has been working on an integrated mobility plan for several years, but Banfield feels ongoing collisions with vulnerable road users warrant changes to the system that should be made sooner rather than later.
“If people actually felt a sense of urgency about this, we would see people doing things tomorrow morning,” she said. “They would be putting out pylons and tactical urbanism kinds of things that we know make a difference right away. Like putting pylons kind of further out into an intersection so that pedestrians can get a little bit out and protected in an intersection before they make a longer crossing.”