A minefield for walkers and bicyclists
STREET SAFETY: Distracted drivers making turns are becoming an increasing hazard for those on foot
It goes something like this: when I’m driving and need to make a right turn on a red light, there seems to be a never-ending stream of pedestrians who are too rude to understand what a Don’t Walk signal means. They jeopardize their safety and my own because they think they own the road.
When I’m walking and need to cross on a green light, there always seems to be an idiot creeping so far into the crosswalk I’m getting the salt from her car on my coat because she is too arrogant to understand her ability to turn right on a red light is only when the crosswalk is clear, not when I’m in it. My hurrying up won’t matter; there’s someone else heading this way, so hold your horses.
When it comes to vehicles, there’s a growing chorus of voices advocating for the replacement of one of the most deadly moves a driver can make: a left-hand turn. The bean counters weep for the destruction of traffic flow, while safety advocates recognize any car crossing a live lane of traffic is most vulnerable. Over a decade ago, UPS instructed their drivers to avoid left turns,saving time and fuel.
Lost in the discussion is the fact our roads are still deadly for pedestrians and cyclists, a group ever increasing in most urban parts of the country. Turning cars are dangerous cars for those not inside them. Drivers are accustomed to being able to make a right turn on a red light (only fully prohibited in the Island of Montreal) but many seem to forget the “making a complete stop first” part of the Highway Traffic Act.
In Toronto in 2012 (most recent complete statistics available), 326 pedestrians with the right of way were hit by cars making a left turn; 194 were hit by cars making right turns. While you’re three times more likely to die in a mid-block collision (jaywalking always puts you at risk, and cars have gathered more speed) the truth is in any car-pedestrian collision, injuries are almost always a given. The scariest part of those numbers is the fact the pedestrians had the right of way; in just 51 other turning incidents — in total — did the vehicle have the right of way. Pedestrians are being careful; cars are not.
For Toronto, incidents of cars meeting pedestrians per 100,000 population has remained steady over the past few years, in the high 70s. Vancouver, after years of ranking in the low 40s, doubled into the 80s in 2010. By 2012, more pedestrians were being killed on Vancouver roads than “drivers, passengers, cyclists and motorcyclists, combined.” Safety initiatives wrestle to get the numbers down, but if you ask me, all the traffic changes in the world won’t do a thing unless you get everyone off their phones. Enforce distracted driving laws; otherwise it’s like having drunk drivers, pedestrians and cyclists out there in some kind of urban ThunderDome.
Seattle has started a program, Vision Zero, to increase road safety by, among other things, prohibiting right-turns-on-red-lights in parts of their city core. I like it. Pedestrians don’t have to worry about the bumper creep behind them or the throttle jammer cutting them off like he’s threading a needle. During peak times, this effectively means it would be almost impossible to make a right turn as pedestrian traffic fills the crosswalk on the green light. They’re talking major intersections, so if it only takes you an extra block or two to make your right, it’s worth it.
Cyclists are supposed to follow the rules of the road, and are provided the same privileges and responsibilities as a motor vehicle driver. They are entitled to that whole lane if they want it. They are required to stop at the stop sign as well as that red light. Of course those sentences just set off a tsunami of indignation in both camps, and don’t even get me started on those ridiculous e-bikes that apparently dwell in a netherworld between law and reason.
You can draw a Venn diagram of motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians and at each intersection you can just write in the word, “hate.” I spoke with Stephen Sergenese, who worked as a bike courier two winters ago in downtown Toronto. Bike couriers are particularly noted — and hated — for their behaviour.
“Messengers do take liberties, and can be aggressive. I agree. You also quickly learn the safest approach is often the one people complain the most about.” He describes frequently being trapped between a car and a streetcar, wary of frozen streetcar tracks that can take a cyclist down fast. Exploding off a light is sometimes the only way to claim a lane. “You’re looking in your mirrors as well as far ahead; people don’t signal and few look before they swing open a door.” He admits many couriers earn their bad press but cyclists of all stripes, like pedestrians, have far more to lose if they come in contact with a vehicle.
I ask him the worst offenders. He doesn’t hesitate. “Cabs.”
With Sergenese’s assertion in the back of my mind, I asked a cabbie at the airport who the biggest offenders are on the roads. “Buses,” he replied. “And those guys on bicycles.”
The other guy.