A week ago Tuesday night, someone tried to kill me.
I was walking across Thistle Street in Dartmouth, in the mid-block crosswalk that leads from the Sportsplex to the Common. There was a car coming down the hill, but I had plenty of time to get safely to other side. As I crossed, however, I heard the driver gun his engine, speeding up from perhaps 50kph to 80, and then to what I judged was 100. I broke into a run and was well across the double yellow line—even at his way-over-the-limit speed, the driver had the entire lane to proceed unobstructed—but my mere existence evidently pissed off the driver: as he approached the crosswalk, he swerved across the double yellow line, into the on-coming lane, missing me by about 10 centimetres.
It could’ve ended differently—it could’ve been a less-spry person crossing the street or, as was the case a few weeks ago, I could’ve had a leg injury preventing me from running. Quite plainly, the driver was willing to kill someone for the sin of crossing the street safely in a marked crosswalk.
How has it come to this? How is it that a driver feels he should not even have to see, much less slow down for, a pedestrian in a crosswalk?
Just a few days before I interviewed Ken Reashor, Halifax’s manager of traffic, about crosswalk issues. Reashor was part of a “crosswalk safety task force” that was put together a couple of years ago in response to the death of two Dartmouth girls who were struck by cars while crossing the street in marked crosswalks.
The task force looked at, but rejected, the idea of replacing flashing yellow lights at crosswalks with flashing red lights.
“It was considered that it was not in the best interests of the pedestrians,” says Reashor. “What do you do when the pedestrian’s crossed and you still have the flashing red light?”
I tell him that the driver does what drivers do at every other flashing red light: stop, look around, and if it’s safe, go again. Is that really such a big deal?
“It’s sending the wrong message,” answers Reashor.
As Reashor tells it, marked crosswalks are a problem, because pedestrians think they’re safe in them.
“In fact, there are less pedestrian incidents at unmarked locations—including jaywalking or intersections that are not marked with a crosswalk, than there are at fully signalized intersections, or marked locations,” he says. “The theory behind that is pedestrians are relying on those control measures to make it safe for them—and they don’t.”
That might be counterintuitive, but I agree with Reashor. Pedestrian safety works in an entire universe of driver and pedestrian expectations. Every time we nudge things in the direction of “protecting pedestrians” we’re actually making it less safe for them. Once we start putting in crosswalks and buttons and lights and strict rules about jaywalking, the drivers expect that the rules are designed to regulate pedestrians, not drivers, and so they drive less carefully.
But adding more pedestrian rules is exactly what Reashor’s task force did. The traditional system—green light, pedestrian can cross the street with the right of way—is being replaced with a new push button system—the traffic light may be green but the pedestrian can’t cross the street until he or she pushes a button and gets a walk sign, which very often means waiting through an entire light cycle. Pedestrians don’t like the system, so continue to cross with the green traffic light but against the don’t-walk sign; drivers feel that if the don’t-walk sign is up, the driver has the right of way.
Along with the change, the city began airing two TV ads, both telling pedestrians that they better watch out. There are no ads telling drivers to slow down and look out for pedestrians or to not pass in crosswalk zones.
These subtle shifts in expectations matter, such that drivers are more often claiming a right of way they used to yield and, at the extreme, thinking it’s OK to simply murder pedestrians.
This article appears in Apr 8-14, 2010.
That driver must have been a Coast reader. 😉
It does seem like this city would prefer if no one went anywhere on foot, ever.
I’m still breaking the old Bill 7 law that says you can’t cross a street if there is a don’t walk sign. The only viable solution is obviously to severely restrict car access to the peninsula, invest in active transportation and public transit. It’s a no-brainer!
Disgusting that they are spending money to put in these anti-pedestrian push-buttons at intersections… those cost alot of money, and that money would have been much better spent creating bike lanes in the area.
I was almost run down by a shiny new black Dodge f-series truckthat was mad at me for not pushing the button for the crosswalk at Alderney and Portland. The car was idling beside me at the red light for about 15 seconds before the light turned green. I purposefully refrained from pushing the button in defiance of the anti-pedestrian policies that HRM is putting forward, and the driver took it upon himself to gun his engine before slamming on the breaks as I jumped away from his vehicle “IT’S A DON’T WALK SIGN ASSHOLE!” he screamed, knowing full well that I had been waiting to cross like he had been. I responded calmly with the international symbol for pedestrian solidarity; an upraised fist with the back of the hand facing forward and middle finger extended.
Drivers should feel guilty and foolish whenever a pedestrian decides to cross the road, as the pedestrian is choosing a method of travel that is much better for the community and the world. We need more incentives for walking in Halifax, not less!
I have been the driver when a person pushed the button and immediately walked right out even though it would have taken a miracle to allow me to stop with such short notice. I am always amazed at how some walkers will put their lives on the line as if they are thinking “You MUST stop for me.” Well, yes we should when we can do so safely. We can’t if we are in the intersection and it is already too late. And then there are times when the driver does not see the flashing light or the person wanting to get across. Here it is clearly the drivers fault but… is it worth risking your life for to walk right out? The flashing light is not meant to replace your senses. You should look both ways just as you would if you were crossing in an unmarked place.
On the other hand, I have been a walker who has been ignored at walk lights. Drivers in a rush see YOU as the reason why THEY are going to be late… ah no… you should have left sooner. Respect and common sense are lacking in our society. We need more of both.
By far the worst intersection I’ve had to cross is Chebucto and Mumford. Since they changed the lights there, it can take a very very long time to get a walk sign. So I decided recently to start crossing further down Chebucto, closer to the rotary – and ended up waiting while 10 cars drove by me, despite the flashing lights. I think people are paying so much attention to what lane they’ll be in when they get down to the rotary they don’t pay attention to the flashing lights, but still, it is downright hellish to cross the street there.
I’m shocked to hear about this aggression! Never experienced anything like that myself, although once I lost it, when a car turned on a red light more or less on my heels, and I spun and gave it an ungodly kick that dented in the fender. The driver got out and was totally bewildered. At some intersections it’s like a battle of wills.
As a daily pedestrian between west end and downtown I know my intersections and the light timings and so on. There are some marked crosswalks I avoid like the plague. Most mid-block intersections around the Commons are death traps. Jaywalking is far safer than assuming all cars will stop.
Another deadly game is when cars stop at random to let pedestrians cross even when there’s no crosswalk or intersection. Never, ever cross in those cases. Walk behind the car if you must. These random acts of stupid kindness open up the potential for other drivers will have no idea what’s going on – and smuck!
You really need to rely on your wits!
I question Reashor’s conclusions regarding marked and unmarked crosswalks. Presumably, the marked crosswalks are on heavy-traffic streets, so other contributing factors may be traffic volume (cars/hour), pedestrian volume (crossings/hour) and number of lanes to cross (time spent in crosswalk). There may very well be a lack of pedestrian vigilance, but the data would need to be corrected for the above factors to prove it. This hypothesis has been put forward before, and I asked to see the data, and all I got was some crappy PowerPoint presentation without talking notes.
I have never had a problem crossing the streets in toronto. Maybe I didn’t live there long enough, maybe I was just plain unaware of situations that were dangerous.
In halifax?
So dangerous for a walker. I walk often too, I hope my mother doesn’t hear of my death by a car.
-Please drivers be cautious. Assume pedestrians are stupid and be careful. Just don’t wait for them when they are j-walking.
I refuse to walk in front of a car if they stop for me. I just wave them on.
I was pleased to hear Tim explain the new crosswalks being introduced by the Traffic Authority. I frequently walk through the Chebucto-Mumford intersection and just assumed the Walk sign was broken. This new system is going to result in someone getting hurt….people just walk against the light. I’ve seen some close calls. Just another boneheaded move by the Traffic Authority, I guess. I’m not sure why they have so much trouble getting things right. Like the lane to nowhere at the Kempt Road-Windsor Street intersection….what were they thinking?
Walking in most of the city is a frighting ordeal. I live near a few intersections where there are common problems in Downtown Dartmouth. Crossing Ochterloney anywhere, even at intersections like at Maple, or even down at Alderney is like being in the film Death Race 2000. Old people are worth 10 points! Not to mention the mess at Prince Albert-Portland-Alderney.
Seriously though, there needs to be more concern on both sides of the equation. Drivers should be more aware that pedestrians are allowed to cross at both marked and unmarked and there needs to be more respect for those of us who walk often. Pedestrians need to be smart too, I’ve often seen situations where pedestrians will jaywalk and literally cross by the skin of their ass. Meanwhile, if you do anything about it, you get a middle finger for your trouble.
These push-button systems are so dumb, I missed the 60 this morning because of it waiting for the lights to cycle through.
Bo Gus, Maybe it was a Coast reader who supports the idea of sending Mr. Bousquet back down south. He moand an bitches about Ken Reshor for a few years, then expects Ken to give him the answers he wants to hear. Boo hoo Tim, I’m willing to bet the driver was someone you’ve managed to piss off. Fresh blood at the Coast while the old blood ran down Thistle St 🙂
Dave Chapman has it right. It is meaningless to present only the absolute numbers of incidents at marked versus unmarked crosswalks and then draw a conclusion. If there were 16 incidents at an unmarked crosswalks and 20 at a marked Mr. Reashor would conclude/state marked crosswalks are more dangerous.
But wait a minute, what if only 32 people crossed at the unmarked crosswalk and 2,000,000 at the marked crosswalk for an incidence rate of 0.5 at the unmarked crosswalk and 0.00001 at the marked crosswalk. An absurd example – yes but it demonstrates the flaw in Mr. Reashor’s reasoning.
I don’t have sufficient data to conclude whether marked or unmarked crosswalks are safer, but neither does Mr. Reashor.
I feel safer in my car than as a pedestrian. At least there is some protection there from other motorists. I just noticed the change in the traffic lights for pedestrians and it puts them at even more of a disadvantage now that they have to press the button at the lights to get the walk signal. What about tourists/visitors to the city who don’t know how this system works?
This seems like a measure which will make it harder, not easier, for pedestrians to cross the street. Pedestrians should be the first consideration at the lights and this is a step backwards in my opinion. Carol A.
“In fact, there are less pedestrian incidents at unmarked locations—including jaywalking or intersections that are not marked with a crosswalk, than there are at fully signalized intersections, or marked locations,”
What a freakonomically ridiculous thing to say. By this same thinking it is far safer to drive drunk than to walk drunk (per mile traveled) and it is certainly safer on your head to bike than walk yet it’s the bikers who wear the helmets.
Thank goodness for the Coast. It’s the only place in the HRM media where citizens get unfiltered glimpses into the minds and thinking of the unfirable, unaccountable bureaucrats who run our lives and control our communities.
We will eventually get past the automobile only mindset. But first we’ll have to get past these entrenched bastions of ‘civil service’.
Bottom line folks, crosswalk or no crosswalk, light or no light, that unless you have some sort of Star Trek type of defector or force shield around you, a human body will lose to a one ton, steel vehicle everytime. For Pete’s sake look before crossing and keep checking BOTH DIRECTIONS as you cross. And if a pedestrian does everything right , crosses and gets hit by a vehicle and dies, so what, dead is dead. He or she may be in the right but is being right worth dying for?
I think the point is BT, is that pedestrians shouldn’t have to feel their life is in danger for crossing the street. I’ll admit that there needs to be a lot of respect on both sides of the coin, especially when you’ve got an SUV barreling towards you at 50 km/h, but the driver needs to take just as much responsibility as the pedestrian. Just as the pedestrian has to look both ways to cross the street, the driver needs to know that there are people that cross the street, at both marked and unmarked crosswalks. The attitude of “crosses and gets hit by a vehicle and dies, so what, dead is dead. He or she may be in the right but is being right worth dying for?” is a statement we should be avoiding altogether. By your reasoning, we might as well not have people walking through the city, lest they get hit by a car because the driver doesn’t feel like stopping. I know that’s a bit hyperbolic, but come on. We can do better than that.
Want to make walking safer? Make the driving tests harder. Better drivers on the street, the pedestrian is more safe. But hey, that would mean less cars on the road, eh?
Ken Reashor is a moron. That’s all I have to say. Good night everyone.
Following Ken Reashor’s stunning logic to its ultimate conclusion, we should eliminate cross walks entirely. In fact, to continue to have cross walks implicates the HRM traffic authorities (Mr. Reashor included) in cross walk deaths. Far better in Mr. Reashor’s mind that we should all become a city of jaywalkers (presumably armed with baseball bats to punish reckless drivers who don’t respect our space).
Mr. Reashor’s stand pat / do nothing attitude towards cross walk safety is disturbing. Instead of stonewalling and foot dragging, Mr. Reashor should, as the bureaucrat charged with this responsibility, be looking for ways to make pedestrian crossings safer.
What else is he getting paid for?
Oh, of course, I forgot, he gets paid to keep the traffic moving.
I was just getting ready to comment, then I seen the news. Turns out you can be sued for this.
the road is to be shared.if both drivers and pedestrians were to follow the law this would not be an issue.both pay taxes so both have rights to the road same with bikers.not pressing the crosswalk light tom again shows your level of arrogance.as if you are right and your position is the only one that matters.get your head out of your ass and realize that these laws are placed for the benefit and safetyof all.
@colinc2922
You can’t be sued for taking a bureaucrat to task for how he does his job, unless you imply that he or she has done something illegal. Likewise you can’t be sued for questioning the intellectual capacity of bureaucrats or politicians. Calling Ken Reashor an idiot or Stephen Harper a fool for the content of their public pronouncements doesn’t constitute a good legal case for slander, or else the right to free speech in this country is an illusion.
No, you can’t be sued for stating your opinion or beliefs so everyone can just calm down and certainly don’t be afraid to tell everyone what you think the bureaucrats are doing wrong. In fact, pointing out what the government is doing wrong, in your opinion, is part of good citizenship and one of the responsibilities a citizen can be proud of fulfilling even if they don’t have the answers to the problems. After all, it is the bureaucrat and elected officials who are paid to solve the problems.
SPEED KILLS not cars
It is my opinion that speed kills. We’ve designed the streets to one purpose only – so that cars can go as fast as possible. We watch the auto commercials on TV and we accept every government decision and policy that enables cars to go faster. If the cars have to slow down because the street is narrow, or there is a corner or their is a street hockey game going on, it is considered a major issue that must be solved immediately. Maybe even call the police because, yes, it is against the law to slow down traffic.
This is the problem; this is the unreasonable bias. It’s not even the cars. Compared to most cities we have lots of room for cars and could easily make more room if we wanted. It the obsession with making the cars go faster that is the problem. Where do those people have to get to so badly in those cars that 30 seconds or even five minutes makes a difference? Let’s be clear what we all want here is generational change. The quick fixes are making things worse and openly dangerous. If you don’t a 50 minute commute then move closer to your work, or move your work closer to you, or get different work, or move somewhere where they have things arranged better. Yes, this is all hard and drastic and takes a lot of time, but that’s what it takes.
I say lets take back all the real estate that has been given over to enabling cars to go fast and do some nice stuff with it: promenades, malls, bike paths, parks, squares, fountains, gardens, shop stalls, just plain old room to breath. If the cars have to slow down all the better.
I was taught, & still use the rule of, the bigger guy gets the right of way. When I’m walking & there are moving vehicles around me, I’ll make sure they’re not going to hit me, even if I have the right of way (aka; flashing green walk symbol) I check, because the bigger guy’s …(a car,truck, bus or train) going to mess you up, even if your in the right !
what real chance to win do you have, getting hit by a object made out of metal plastic & glass that weighs a couple of thousand pounds ?
The pedestrian has right of way to cross at every intersection subject to being prudent about the proximity of oncoming vehicles and the shared right to the roadway.
Many people are unaware of the pedestrian’s rights and the obligation of motorists to yeild when possible to people wishing to cross at intersections including those with no markings that greatly outnumber the marked ones.
A lack of courtesy is often demonstrated by members of each group: pedestrians – especially at marked crosswalks which Reashor correctly states seem to cause a sense of entitlement – striding out agressively and motorists failing to yeild when they clearly could.
What can be said except that there is a lot to be desired in people’s behavior.