Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
Have there been a higher than normal amount? And what exactly would prevent pedestrian deaths? A certain number of people getting hit by cars is inevitable and doesn't seem at all analogous to repeated major infrastructure failures.
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When this topic is repeatedly brought up on Reddit, no one seems to want to acknowledge that both drivers
and pedestrians are to blame for this.
Here's one of the more recent articles that was posted:
Pedestrian collisions in Calgary: More than half struck while having right of way. To most people, that phrasing strongly implies driver fault dominates the problem. "More than half" usually tends to suggest by a significant margin.
But reading the article:
Quote:
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Between 2024 and year-to-date 2025, there have been 879 injury collisions involving pedestrians. Of those, 476 occurred when the pedestrian had the right of way, and in six cases, the victim did not survive.
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So 54% of the time the driver was at fault. That still means another 46% of the time, pedestrians were doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. That is pretty damned close to
half. You will get downvoted to hell for saying there are two parties to this problem that must be addressed to reach a complete solution, but it's true.
No one understands their obligations as a driver or as a pedestrian, and when you point out things that a pedestrian should do to ensure their own safety, you're invariably met with
YeAh BuT mOtOrIsTs BrEaK tRaFfIc LaWs AlL tHe TiMe... which is a frankly moronic take if you want to actually address the issue holistically and talk about what each side can do to ensure safety. If you want fewer injuries and deaths, you do not get there by refusing to talk about pedestrian behavior. You get there by dealing with both sides of the interaction. Pointing out that pedestrians should not
start crossing when the "don't walk" is flashing is not 'victim blaming', it is literally the rule that determines whether you have right of way. Two parties breaking rules does not cancel anything out.
It's a frustrating conversation to have. Drivers screw up. Pedestrians screw up. Saying only one of those things out loud does not make streets safer, it just makes the conversation easier for people who want a single villain.
I see it like this:
- Drivers and pedestrian education needs to be improved over who has right of way when, and when it is legal to proceed.
- Compliance needs to be enforced. More tickets for failure to yield
and more tickets for jaywalking.
- Design and infrastructure is an element to be addressed. As an example, I think 'unmarked' crosswalks need to largely be a thing of the past; mark them
all, even if it's just with painted lines on the roadway. More crosswalks should have signage, and particularly lit signage in busier areas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Bumface
We should discount phones? Enforcement of mobile device use while driving would probably be the biggest life saving measure that the city could partake in.
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I don't think he's saying to discount phones; he's saying discount the COVID years since traffic numbers were so much lower over those years, and in a separate thought saying that irresponsible phone use is contributing to higher incidents, and as someone who lives in downtown, that is very observably both a driver and pedestrian issue. Way too many people are staring down into their phones as they cross streets, and everyone has been witness to some arsehole sitting at a green light for entirely too long then shooting off like a greyhound because they finally looked up from their text messages to see that the light changed.
EDIT: Just realized this is the
Major Water Main Break thread.
There is obviously a better place for this discussion.
. Hopefully the boil advisory gets lifted in the next week or two and no further breaks happen that are more 'surprises' with graver impacts. I thank the city for its ongoing emergency work on this, and hoping that we can close the chapter to this no matter the need to do so. I rarely ever talk about personal impacts in these types of threads because they are frankly IMO very minor inconveniences in comparison to what others deal with such as my neighbours.
