Pedestrian Accident Map: Calgary 1996-2012

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Bunk

How about just getting beyond blame games and redesigning our streets to be safer for all users, mmmkay?

Sounds like social engineering to me.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by fotze

Never seen something so stupid and personally wreckless. Just sat there with my jaw open.

You failed to mow that f***er down? Way to disrupt the forces of natural selection, man! Now he's going to be able to procreate and create even more stupid morons.

Smh.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bunk

How about just getting beyond blame games and redesigning our streets to be safer for all users, mmmkay?

Are you seriously suggesting that finding the cause isn't important; and instead we should spend billions of dollars redesigning every street in Calgary?

[calumniate]

I have to lol at the college lane and 17th ave spot. It's not even an intersection, but oh so tempting

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Are you seriously suggesting that finding the cause isn't important; and instead we should spend billions of dollars redesigning every street in Calgary?

Is that what you took from his post?

[ken0042]

Maybe one of you guys can enlighten me then- what did he mean if I read that wrong?

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Maybe one of you guys can enlighten me then- what did he mean if I read that wrong?

I don't think redesigning meant tearing up all the streets in the city, I think it meant finding safer ways to build and lay out street designs (etc etc) in the future.

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Are you seriously suggesting that finding the cause isn't important; and instead we should spend billions of dollars redesigning every street in Calgary?

I think if you look closely, you'll find the root cause to be that Calgary streets aren't even close to being pedestrian friendly..

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Are you seriously suggesting that finding the cause isn't important; and instead we should spend billions of dollars redesigning every street in Calgary?

I'm obviously not suggesting we redesign every street in Calgary. But making changes to various intersections, doing targeted traffic calming and modifications to right-of-ways to slow speeds in hot spots for accidents, improving the design of crosswalks, designing new streets differently from the start for improved safety, etc are things that can be done to improve safety.

NYC has been doing this aggressively for the past decade or so and it's resulted in a 37% decrease in pedestrian fatalities, so something is working. This is in a decade where distracted drivers and pedestrians from mobile devices has risen dramatically.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/download...s_index_11.pdf

This kind of change in an urban setting is what they've embarked on:



Pedestrian error and driver error are going to happen no matter what. But what we can control is the conditions that make streets safer and facilitate more intuitive decisions for motorists and pedestrians.

[Table 5]

I find Calgary to be in that weird situation where half the people still think that cars will stop for you no matter what (ie, like Calgary used to be when we all grew up), and the other half is totally ok with jaywalking... and it's really confusing things for everyone. Either way would be fine, but a mix is dangerous.

As a pedestrian, I lean towards the "its always up to me to keep myself safe, not the cars" side of things. A car can kill me even if I am in the right. I never trust them one bit, and always try to make eye contact with the driver if I need to cross. I'd rather be paranoid than dead.

As a driver, one thing I wish pedestrians were cognizant more of is the sun. There are many instances where as a pedestrian your environment seems well lit, but as a driver you are being blinded. Calgary has some extreme contrast...especially in the winter. Just because you can see the driver, doesn't mean they can see you.

In terms of road design, I want my cars and pedestrians/bikes separated as much as possible. I would never use a bike lane that doesn't have a physical barrier between it and the car lane.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Table 5

In terms of road design, I want my cars and pedestrians/bikes separated as much as possible. I would never use a bike lane that doesn't have a physical barrier between it and the car lane.

That's exactly what a latte sipping social engineer would say.

[Table 5]

The changes that NYC has made to it's streets has been fantastic. It makes the city a much more enjoyable place to live in and visit.

And they piss off cabbies, which is awesome.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Bunk

That's exactly what a latte sipping social engineer would say.

Coincidentally, I was actually sipping on a latte as I was writing that out.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Pedestrian error and driver error are going to happen no matter what. But what we can control is the conditions that make streets safer and facilitate more intuitive decisions for motorists and pedestrians.

Fair enough. However my question is this- how does Calgary rate for pedestrian accidents compared to other Canadian cities? The last time we had a thread like this we discussed how in other cities pedestrians don't tend to just dart into traffic like they do here. I thought it was a difference in the law, but somebody pointed out that there wasn't a difference in the law. (This was comparing Calgary to Winnipeg.)

My point is this; if there is a difference in the attitude of pedestrians, and Calgary has a higher rate of pedestrian collisions, it would seem to make more sense to focus on the source of the problem?

Look at Memorial Drive between ~5th street NW and 10th street. All sorts of work was done there to make it less pedestrian friendly. Every morning I count a dozen people attempting to play Frogger; even when walking to the controlled crosswalk actually will not add any extra walking distance. (Because one you cross Memorial there is nowhere to go, you still have to walk parallel to the river to get to a bridge into downtown.)

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Bunk

My god, bike lanes, bike stop areas, visible crosswalks, traffic calming measures, big "ONLY" written on the lanes. It's Sean Chu's nightmare come to our reality.

[Mister Yamoto]

The #1 cause of pedestrian auto collisions is the BS belief that pedestrians always have the right of way.

Just about every time I have seen a near miss, the pedestrian says "That %^$, I had the right of way". And then I say "that's great, maybe you should have them write that on your tombstone".

[Bunk]

I think we should also remember that everyone is a pedestrian. The mode shouldn't be talked about as "those people". In fact, it's the only mode that encapsulates all people. Not everyone drives, not everyone takes transit, certainly not everyone cycles. Even if you take transit to work, you're a pedestrian at the beginning and end of your journey. Even if you drive downtown, many still have a few blocks to walk from their parkade, or are a pedestrian going to lunch.

[normtwofinger]

I've said it before - let cars have the right of way over pedestrians. The majority of the world is this way. After experiencing a city/country where pedestrians yield to cars, it appears to be more safe.

[Burninator]

I use to cross the 17th Ave and 4st intersection everyday and I was always on high alert at it. 17th Ave green light was really long and the cars turning left (onto 4th st both directions) would wait for a gap in traffic and forget to check for pedestrians. Lots of close calls at that intersection.

As a pedestrian you can and need to watch out for yourself but sometimes there isn't much you can do. You can start to cross when the nearest car is over half a block away and before you're even half way through the intersection they are turning toward you.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bunk

I think we should also remember that everyone is a pedestrian. The mode shouldn't be talked about as "those people". In fact, it's the only mode that encapsulates all people.

Of course that is true. However the flip side is that because not everybody drives, etc; that also means there are a lot of pedestrians out there who don't understand the challenges that drivers face. Even if they drive a bit, a lot of people seem to "switch off" their internal driver's manual when they are walking. In Fotze's earlier example, a pedestrian clearly forgot that reading a phone is a distraction, and walked right into oncoming traffic against the light. Had Fotze been 1/2 as distracted as the pedestrian, that person would be in the hospital.

I'm not saying calming measures are all bad ideas; I'm just saying we need to look into the bigger / more common issues first.