Leong: Pedestrian crash shows need to alter attitude on road safety

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Just a few weeks ago, authorities shared news of a boy seriously hurt in a traffic collision in one of Calgary’s newer neighbourhoods in the far southwest.

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The 12-year-old received what police described as “life-altering injuries” on the morning of Dec. 13 after he was struck by a vehicle in an unmarked crosswalk at Belmont Drive and 210th Avenue S.W.

When some of my colleagues went to the scene a few days later to take in the surroundings and speak with people from the area, locals expressed palpable apprehension about what was described as a lack of safety for pedestrians.

One of the residents recalled her own close calls and said vehicles on 210th Avenue “fly down the street,” which has a speed limit of 60 km/h.

The intersection where the crash occurred is only partly controlled by stop signs.

The lighting in the area was described as being sketchy, making it difficult for pedestrians to be seen when the sun’s not up.

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Another local pointed out the Creekstone neighbourhood has no public transport, so transit riders must cross 210th Avenue into Belmont to catch a bus.

It is baffling that given the immense population growth in places like this, the city wouldn’t pre-emptively implement some infrastructure to encourage safer driving and help keep pedestrians out of harm’s way.

Why wait until something goes wrong to do something even as simple as install a sign?

Of course, the onus should be on drivers to operate their vehicles properly, but municipalities also need to build infrastructure that doesn’t amplify the danger when drivers do make some kind of major error that could lead to a collision.

Meanwhile, some of those who advocate for pedestrian safety take issue with the language we use around issues like this.

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They argue the words we use can have the inadvertent effect of minimizing the inherent dangers of cars and trucks, and perhaps even let drivers off the hook in the public’s mind even before official investigations are completed.

This observation isn’t entirely off-base.

Many years ago, a fellow copy editor with more years under his belt warned me against using “accident” to describe car crashes, as the word implies the event was random and unpreventable, and the drivers involved weren’t at fault.

Similarly, safety advocates’ hackles are raised when law enforcement officials say speed and alcohol weren’t factors, or that the driver who caused a collision stayed at the scene.

Driving at or below the speed limit doesn’t imply safe behaviour, they’d argue.

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As an aside, this is a question that will have to be revisited as cars and trucks have become heavier in the last few decades. This issue could proliferate with the widespread adoption of battery-powered vehicles, which weigh more than their gasoline-powered siblings.

The laws of physics mean a fully loaded electric pickup truck will be a bigger threat in a crash than something lighter and smaller, according to multiple studies cited by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the United States. This will be true even if the vehicle is only going 30 or 40 km/h.

Meanwhile, remaining at a crash scene and blowing below a certain blood-alcohol level are legal requirements, advocates would argue, and are not deserving of being highlighted.

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They also object to the use of passive language to describe collisions and their consequences because by and large, cars don’t have free will to hit pedestrians. These vehicles are supposed to be under the control of a driver.

All of these and more can contribute to playing down the inherent hazards of automobiles and subsequent perils resulting from bad, distracted and dangerous driving.

The automobile is immensely helpful to get us from point A to point B.

And while it is most often used in a safe manner without incident, we must always remember that a motor vehicle is also a dangerous machine capable of maiming and killing — and we should all treat it accordingly.

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