Drivers bear higher burden for road safety, research shows

Every new report of a cyclist or pedestrian killed on a Toronto street fuels an ideological collision over who is to blame and who bears responsibility for road safety.

“Everyone (cyclists, drivers, pedestrians) needs to take responsibility and follow the rules of the road,” a Halton Region police officer tweeted last week in a common division of responsibility.

Others say, sure, motorists should pay attention, but cyclists too often ride on the sidewalk.

A national survey by the Angus Reid Institute found 67 per cent of Canadians said too many cyclists in their communities don’t follow the rules of the road. Marginally fewer, 64 per cent, said too many drivers don’t pay enough attention to bikes on the roadway.

Demands for equal abeyance of road rules and assigning of equal blame ignore the circumstance of most of the collisions themselves, and the deadly consequences of motorists driving badly compared to the results of mistakes by those on bike or foot.

A City of Toronto study that looked at collisions that seriously injured or killed pedestrians between 2008 and 2012 noted they can “result from unsafe pedestrian or cyclist actions such as jaywalking and failure to yield to a motorist when they have the right of way.”

But, the study concluded, about 67 per cent of pedestrian injuries can be attributed to driver error.

Another review, of cyclist deaths by Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner, found that in 62 per cent of collisions between a cyclist and a vehicle, streetcar or train, one or more “modifiable actions” by the driver contributed to the death. Speeding, driver inattention and failing to yield were the most common mistakes.

Patrick Brown, a lawyer who participated in that review and now often represents family members of dead pedestrians and cyclists in lawsuits against motorists, said police collision data often underestimates driver responsibility.

“You would be surprised on how many cases I have done where the pedestrian or cyclist was charged, but later it is revealed that fault clearly lay with the driver,” Brown says, adding listed collision causes are often brief summaries made without a complete investigation.

Brown, who hires investigators and engineers to prepare for his cases, and sometimes questions drivers on the stand, said he often finds speed and distraction are prime factors.

“The driver is exceeding the speed limit in virtually almost all the cases” when there is no turn involved, he said. “When I examine the driver under oath, it is evident that they are simply not paying attention to their surroundings and are distracted in one form or another.

“When there are countless witnesses that clearly view and see the pedestrian or cyclist, it is astounding how many drivers simply indicate they did not see the same pedestrian or cyclist.”

Anne Harris, a Ryerson University assistant professor who has studied road deaths, is also wary about drawing conclusions of fault from police data.

People and sometimes police are confused about reporting obligations when there is no serious injury. When somebody dies, investigators usually get one side of the story, said Harris, who teaches in the faculty of community service’s school of occupational and public health.

“I am skeptical of the attribution of errors to anyone who is seriously or fatally injured because they are not able to make their own report,” she said.

Harris doesn’t want to deter people from being defensive drivers, cyclists or pedestrians, but said Toronto’s push for road safety should dedicate decision-makers to the most effective interventions: infrastructure and road design.

“Infrastructure that truly separates road users and offers physical protection works so well in part because it protects from mistakes,” Harris said.