IN THE NEWS
CityNews: “Group calls on changes to Hastings Street, dubbed Vancouver’s ‘most dangerous area for pedestrians’”
Reporter Angela Bower spoke with Vision Zero’s Mihai & Michelle about dangerous speeding in the Downtown Eastside.
What’s going on?
- People routinely speed in 30 km/h zones, so some Vision Zero volunteers pitched in and bought a speed radar gun to collect some guerilla data.
- We quickly recorded speeds of over 60 km/h, which is the speed at which everyone who gets hit dies, despite it being a 30-zone.
What can be done?
Street design! As Mihai told City News, “6 wide lanes make it look like a freeway, and people will drive on it like it’s a freeway.”
Hot Take:
Our streets need to be designed for people, not just drivers. Wider sidewalks, narrower lanes, bus bulges, crosswalks, bike lanes. Pedestrian-friendly street design isn’t rocket science, and it doesn’t have to be expensive.
Another Predictable & Preventable Death
New West Record: “New West police investigating after pedestrian killed by truck”
What happened?
A pedestrian was killed by the driver of a semi-truck on a dangerous stretch of Columbia Street in New Westminster
What made this so preventable?
Folks in the area have repeatedly (repeatedly), called attention to this particular stretch of road. It’s literally on the Central Valley Greenway bike route, but it couldn’t feature a more hostile design.
Okay so what now?
Our response, and the response of members of the community, has generated some strong coverage, focusing on the need for a Vision Zero Strategy.
We also spoke to CTV, emphasizing, “We need to start prioritizing people’s life and safety, even if it means slowing down drivers a bit.”
Mayor Johnstone has been responsive, promising that achieving Vision Zero an important priority for New Westminster. We hope to see quick action on this.
But it’s not an isolated incident.
A monthly update on all the traffic violence would be far too long for you to read.
Only by implementing a Vision Zero strategy in every municipality & coordinated across the region, will we be able to stop reacting and start preventing deaths.
BETTER JOURNALISM
In this section, we break down poorly-written stories that blame victims and miss key facts that would paint a clear picture of the problem: drivers, bad street design, and dangerous cars. Sometimes we highlight good examples of our media style guide in action.
Let’s start with a bad example, from a recent crash that left a pedestrian dead, covered by Maple Ridge News.
This story has it all.
- Vague ambiguity: “A pedestrian is dead after being struck” – struck by what, lightning? – instead of getting to the point – someone died because a driver hit him with their car.
- Blaming the victim’s actions, “attempting to cross Lougheed Highway in an unmarked area,” rather than the driver who hit him, or the unsafe road design that led to this in the first place.
- Further victim blaming from the RCMP: “the man was wearing dark clothing.”
- Quick exoneration of the driver who “remained on scene” – this is an absolute legal requirement and not something that deserves a pat on the back.
Read our tweet thread about the real circumstances that caused this tragedy – and hint, it has nothing to do with fashion.
Now to give credit where it’s due, here’s some great reporting from Brent Richter at North Shore News.
Immediately getting to the point: “One man is dead after being struck by the driver of a commercial vehicle.” These things happen all the time and we can’t afford to normalize them with vague language.
- Two reminders that this is a traumatic human tragedy.
- No attempt to quickly exonerate the driver (“it’s too early to say what happened”) and no pointless mentioning that the driver stayed at the scene. Needless to say, no comments on the pedestrian’s choice of jacket
- Finally, an actual focus on road design (“There are no sidewalks on either side of Third Street”).
It turns out that not building sidewalks and forcing pedestrians to share space with cars has deadly consequences, and West Vancouver should be ashamed that they have roads like this.
That’s All for Today!
Does all of this senseless violence make you angry? Does it make you afraid for your safety and the safety of children?
Same.
That’s why we’re working to change laws, improve road design, hold negligent law-makers accountable, fix the way media talk about driver violence, and much more.
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