Pedestrians and Urban Transit

There is much talk in Toronto about how to get the city moving and safely transport its millions of residents. According to an article in the Huffington Post by Jon Packer, conversations about urban transit solutions must include pedestrian safety.

On the morning of Oct. 28, 2015, 12 pedestrians were struck by cars in the City of Toronto. In Toronto, an average of six pedestrians are being hit each day. Some say that the number of pedestrians who are hit will only get worse with an aging population and a denser one at that.

In the U.S., over 69,000 pedestrians were hit by vehicles in 2011. That equates to one injury every seven minutes. An additional 4,400 pedestrians were killed by vehicles over that same period. Packer says that, “Much debate in Toronto and elsewhere focuses on cities creating urban transport solutions — how to move large numbers of people around over short periods of high-peak need. City arteries, whether roads, trains, or subways, form the basis of this, essentially as the architecture by which most of us move from one place to another. But the prevalence of pedestrian accidents highlights the collateral damage when walking is not considered as part of the urban transport conversation.”

Pedestrians can do much to avoid being hit by a car, such as:
• Wearing bright or reflective clothing at night
• Walking on sidewalks and not in the road
• Obeying traffic signals
• Crossing at designated crossings, like crosswalks and intersections
• Staying alert by refraining from listening to music or talking on the phone when walking

Pedestrian safety has to be taken into account when talking about transit solutions. Collisions involving a pedestrian are often life-altering or even fatal, and many times the pedestrian is not at fault. If you are ever involved in such an accident, you can contact our personal injury lawyers to better understand your rights and to see if you have a claim.