Scene:
Driving down Spring Garden, with two friends, sunny day.
There’s quite a bit of traffic, seeing as it’s almost 4pm. Things were moving pretty slowly.
I notice a cop on a bike beside me and make a remark about how it’s “cool” then carry on driving.
Out of the corner of my eye I see people starting to step onto the crosswalk from the sidewalk to my left, on the opposite side of the street from where I was.
I didn’t stop, because I noticed them a second too late and because I was more or less already in the crosswalk.
Next thing I know, the cop pulls up beside me on his little bicycle and tells me to pull over.
I pull over, just before Queen Street.
He tells me that I didn’t stop for the pedestrians and notes that they were almost halfway across the street. Almost.
The reason, I forgot to note, that I didn’t notice them right away was because of the amount of traffic coming both ways up and down Spring Garden.
Another note: I am pretty sure that the pedestrians were very far from any harm whatsoever, and I very much doubt they noticed that I was “endangering” them.
My point:
If you want drivers to be more aware of pedestrians, who have a tendency to jump out without looking, all crosswalks should be marked with a light, or at least a distinct sign.
As far as I can tell, HRM is only “cracking down” on this crosswalk-pedestrian law because they want to make more money. At almost $400 a pop, there is no way they couldn’t.
I am aware that I should have noticed the pedestrians.
I am aware that it was my fault.
However, I am unaware as to what the “fault” is exactly. No one was hurt. In fact, no one was even near being hurt, except for my pocket.
Will this help me to notice pedestrians crossing very busy streets during heavy traffic? I very much doubt so.
This article appears in May 15-21, 2008.
First, you must realize that tickets are only ever issued as a revenue generator for the city, not as any kind of deterrent. A cop could write a ticket for almost anything given the plethora of bylaws and the like in this town. They write them to earn money for the city, nothing more. Regarding the crosswalks, especially on SGR, they are a ridiculous joke. People step out randomly without looking or caring about traffic and magically expect the vehicles to stop. The one by Lawtons is particularly bad for this. The crosswalks should be controlled so that a parade of pedestrians does not get to cross randomly at a whim — instead, they should have the pedestrian traffic lights like on Quinpool.
I think SGR should be closed to vehicle traffic entirely. Many European cities have designated part of their city centers car free zones. The concept of car free downtown cores is still in its infancy in North America, but Halifax actually dipped a toe in that water in the ’70’s when it closed the north end of Granville street to vehicle traffic. SGR is almost impossible to drive on anyway, and Barrington isn’t much better. A car free city center is one of the most forward thinking strategies this city could adopt.
Any suggestion for closing streets to vehicles should be modified to allow for buses to travel along those roadways. The merchants in those areas need a way for people to get in the doors and not everyone is able (or willing) to walk from a bus stop blocks away.
I agree. I think limited bus service along SGR and Barrington would be a very workable compromise, especially since the sides of the road wouldn’t be congested with parked vehicles. The FRED service that already runs in the downtown core during the summer is perfect. It would just need to be expanded.
Maybe police should start ticketing pedestrians for jaywalking, or get rid of pedestrian crossings except where they are controlled by lights along SGR.A car free city centre would only work here if there was a lot more parking available, since so many people live outside the downtown.SGR is a perfect example of the sort of lawless impudent pedestrian behaviour I keep bitching about. They are clueless enough that it’s dangerous, for foot and car traffic.
I disagree with the idea of “limited” bus service for SGR or Barrington if the streets ever get closed to personal vehicles. If the buses coming from / going to Herring Cove, Mumford, Sackville and Dartmouth areas travel along those roads then let it stay that way. Transit riders have no interest in transfering to another “FRED”-like shuttle as it makes the trip more inconvenient. Leave FRED to do its intended purpose which is a downtown shuttle route for people coming from the downtown core.Another thing to remember is that accomodations will have to be made for delivery trucks which bring in all the supplies to these stores. You could suggest overnight deliveries but what store owner wants to staff his/her store outside of normal hours? And those whole live downtown are likely to be disturbed by a convoy of air-brake equipped trucks at 4am.
I’m not suggesting the entire downtown core go car-free. Just a couple of streets that are damn near impossible to drive on anyway. Cities all over the world have been doing it for years. Have you ever been to a city with a car free zone in the city center? I’ve been to a few. I don’t know how they deal with the issue of getting goods to the shops in those areas, but I can tell you that those shops are thriving. And with no public transit either. People LOVE to shop in car-free zones. They absolutely love it. No waiting on lights at intersections, no walking three blocks out of your way to get to a legal place to cross the street. No dickheads laying on their horns or reving their engines because you’re not moving fast enough. It’s fabulous.
like ex haligonian explained, it would be impossible to switch over to that european car free street idea, once traffic currently exists in the area. The areas in europe that have these, tend to have more shops that dont require large trucks to deliever products, that is why you get lots of patios, cafes, bistro, restaraunts, pubs and lil knick knack shops. Unfortunately, there is too many already established businesses down there, that have regular stops and deliveries. The fact that park lane is on SGR means that it will always be a stop for large vehicles. SGR just isnt the kind of area that could just be shut down to vehicles. The planning and logisitics would be damn near impossible as you would have as many people complaining about how unfair it is to thier business, as you would saying it would help. You would have as many complaints about how much harder it is to get around downtown, as you would people that like the idea.