Jane's Walk

Crossing the street deadly but not illegal

A tragic string of fourteen pedestrian deaths in and around Toronto in the first couple weeks of January has highlighted the perilous walking conditions people face everyday in our cities. In an attempt to lower fatalities, the Toronto police have responded with a crackdown on pedestrians, handing out hundreds of tickets to people simply making their way to and from work, shops and schools. Jane’s Walk director Jane Farrow and walkability expert Paul Hess have responded by pointing out that making cities safe for people on foot is a matter of street design and planning priorities, not criminalizing routine pedestrian behaviour.

“Crossing streets in the middle of the block is not illegal” says Jane Farrow, Executive Director of Jane’s Walk, “you can do it as long as you don’t interfere with traffic, and you’re not standing right beside a traffic light or crosswalk.”

U of T Geography and Planning professor Paul Hess says that the so-called ‘safety blitz’ model doesn’t work. “Pedestrians are merely doing what we all do in cities, walking to work and school, running errands. We actually celebrate vibrant cities and lively neighbourhoods that have a lot of street traffic. The root of the problem here is bad street design and urban planning practices that don’t accommodate people on foot.”

And pedestrians are paying for it with their lives.

Most of the pedestrians killed on Toronto’s roads had the right of way and were crossing on green lights. For whatever reason, it seems drivers didn’t see the pedestrians – again, something that can be best addressed in road design and education campaigns. Drivers must learn how to interact with pedestrians, share the road and slow down.

Too often pedestrians blame themselves and say that failing to cross at a light only invites trouble. That may be true if you are talking and texting while crossing, or failing to look both ways, but jaywalking is rarely at the root of car-pedestrian collisions.

Research suggests that when pedestrians cross mid-block they have a better chance of getting to the other side safely. While that seems counterintuitive, it’s because jaywalkers don’t rely on signals and signage to ensure their safety. Christopher Hume of the Toronto Star writes “Pedestrians at a green light take it for granted that vehicles will come to a stop, and that drivers turning right will see them and that their right-of-way will be respected. As we know, it’s not. By contrast jaywalkers look both ways, wait for a break in the traffic and often make eye contact with the drivers before proceeding.”

Advocating for inclusive urban planning and complete street design is essential for making our cities safe for everyone. Just imagine living in a city where you could walk around safely everyday, where cars heeded to walkers and cyclists all the time. A walkable city could be the place where you live, not just a European city where you can vacation now and then.

For more information on walking environments and road safety, visit our Walkability section.

To view a Globe and Mail article on addressing pedestrian safety through better road design, click here.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/the-war-on-walking/article1441409/