Halifax Regional Police have announced a thorough review of all pedestrian/vehicle investigations through 2013 and into the future, and will release that information to the public. This is a very welcome move on the police department’s part.
The police release is below:
In response to the spike in vehicle/pedestrian collisions this month, HRM Partners in Policing are closely examining each incident from 2013 to provide police and citizens with more contextual information about these collisions.
Crime analysts have been assigned to examine all vehicle/pedestrian collisions for 2013, as well as incidents that occur on a go-forward basis. The analysts will look for various factors: time of day; whether the driver was turning right or left or going straight; the age and gender of the driver and pedestrian; weather conditions; ticket information; etc. This information will then be released to citizens.
Going forward, police will release all incidents involving a pedestrian being struck by a vehicle. This will include those incidents that occur in marked and unmarked crosswalks, in the roadway but not in a crosswalk and in parking lots. Currently, only those collisions that involve injuries are released to the public. Police have since conducted a thorough review of all motor vehicle collisions for the month of December and have determined that the below seven collisions involving pedestrians have not been released by police. This brings the total number of vehicle/pedestrian collisions to 18 for the month of December.
1. Dec 2, 2013, 6:20 a.m. – A 44-year-old woman contacted police after hitting a man in a marked crosswalk at the intersection of Old Sambro Road and Herring Cove Road in Spryfield. The pedestrian did not wait for police to arrive and he could not be located. (13-174460)
2. Dec 2, 2013, 10:45 a.m. – A 25-year-old woman crossing Locke Street in Bedford in a crosswalk was hit by a vehicle driven by an 84-year-old man turning from Locke Street onto the Bedford Highway. The pedestrian suffered minor injuries and was transported to hospital by EHS. The driver was issued a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian. (13-174488)
3. Dec 3, 2013, 4:32 p.m. – A 46-year-old man was hit by a vehicle at the intersection of Titus Street and Main Avenue in Fairview. The pedestrian suffered minor injuries and was issued a ticket for failing to obey a traffic signal. (13-175196)
4. Dec 4, 2013, 1:06 p.m. – A 63-year-old man was hit by a vehicle at low speed in a private parking lot on Ramsgate Lane in Spryfield. The pedestrian suffered minor injuries and was transported to hospital by EHS. Police determined there was no offence, therefore no ticket was issued. (13-175582)
5. Dec 4, 2013, 3:26 p.m. – A 50-year-old man reported that he had his foot run over by a vehicle while he was crossing Chebucto Road at Connolly Street in Halifax. The vehicle did not stop and the investigation is ongoing. (13-175650)
6. Dec 5, 2013, 8:26 p.m. – A 17-year-old female reported that she was hit by a black vehicle while crossing Charles Street at Agricola Street in Halifax in a crosswalk. She suffered minor injuries. The vehicle stopped and the driver spoke with the pedestrian, however no information was exchanged. The investigation is ongoing. (13-176632)
7. Dec 7, 2013, 1:17 p.m. – A 57-year-old woman was hit by a reversing vehicle in the parking lot of the Bloomfield Centre on Agricola Street in Halifax. The victim made her way to hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Police determined there was no offence, therefore no ticket was issued. (13-177086)
HRM Partners in Policing will also be trying a new awareness approach in the coming weeks targeted at changing the behaviour of both drivers and pedestrians. “We want our citizens to know that we recognize this is a problem in HRM and that we’re serious about tackling the issue,” says HRP Deputy Chief Bill Moore. “We’ve reached the point where we need to look beyond our typical approach and be open to trying something new.”
“It’s time to think outside the box,” says Chief Superintendent Roland Wells of Halifax District RCMP. “All I can say about the new awareness approach at this point is keep your eyes peeled at crosswalks while out and about in HRM over the next couple of weeks.”
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2013.
This is ridiculous. There is one department who should be able to not only review all this at a glance but also put it in its proper context using long term analysis and knowledge of national trends.
That is the Traffic Authority.
The problem is that organization, caught during amalgamation between the city and the province, has gone rogue, it is the most dysfunctional of all government in Nova Scotia and that is saying something.
The petty potentates who run this bureaucratic fiefdom, power mad, are in constant conflict with citizens, elected officials, other parts of government and common sense. Whether the issue is winter parking bans, road-widening, speed limits in town, street directions, traffic calming, stop lights, roundabouts, crosswalk safety or transportation policy in general, these made men are at the centre of a big box government system that has completely disconnected from the city and its people.
The Traffic Authority is empowered to work by act of provincial government yet is paid by the municipal, ultimately answering to neither. They live in a bureaucratic wasteland that spills across our city. Their communications practices range from authoritarian soviet to fantasies of benevolent dictators.
If anything comes out of trying to make sense of these pointless and seemingly constant tragedies it should be a bottom up reform of the Traffic Authourity to completely rethink its mission, responsibilities, purpose and accountability.
Send your MLA or Councilor a note asking them to support Traffic Authourity Review and Reform before more people are maimed and killed by their bumbling ineptitude, their 1950’s commuter suburb vision and inability to keep our city streets safe.
You know, how much more aware can they make people…people know the difference, they are either too preoccupied, too busy, too rushed, etc. to make good decisions. And this is about both drivers and pedestrians. Not going to blame just one as it is everyone’s responsibility. Here is an idea though…make a an electronic signal so that when a car is going, cell phone won’t turn on. Car off, phone on! Simple. We don’t even have phones and hey, we survive…like all the time!!! Imagine that…a world without phones EVERYWHERE…oops, that’s another topic. But don’t know how I have lived my 51 years of life without one…just sayin’.
Here’s an idea.
I’m from the UK originally, and it wasn’t until I came to Canada that I had seen so many crosswalk/collision incidents. The reason?
In the UK, NO cars can turn left or right on a red. At these times, ALL traffic must yield to pedestrians. This makes complete sense. The only time there is a collision is if 1) a car goes through the red and 2) if a pedestrian jaywalks. In both cases, extremely dangerous and so these incidents are rare.
Pedestrians don’t have to worry about cars turning left or right on them when they have the freedom to cross – and cars don’t have to worry about looking out for other cars and pedestrians. Plus, pedestrians often feel obliged to hurry when a rare is impatiently hovering and revving as it waits for you to cross.
Turning left here, when the “WALK” signal is on, it a complete nightmare and is an accident waiting to happen. Drivers are concentrating on the oncoming traffic and finding the window to turn, that they don’t even see a pedestrian walking out until the almost swing into them at the last second.
As a pedestrian, I had never felt fear crossing at a crosswalk in the UK as unless a car breaks through a red, there is no way you can get hit.
Change the traffic light rules and problem solved.
It might be useful to determine if the new LED light installations correlate in any sense with these accidents. On wet and rainy nights, I find that it is difficult to see with the kind of illumination that they give off and it is particularly difficult to see low contrast people dressed in dark clothing.