Friday, April 21, 2006

I don't know what to say

You've probably heard the same as me already. I have no more information, except to tell you that I am so very sad to hear this.

Why does this keep happening? We have ways to reduce the risks.

You can look here at what this 16 year old girl was trying to get across. I work near an intersection like this, and many pedestrians jog across out of fear.


Darren J 4/21/2006 09:43:00 a.m.

4 Comments:

I'm really saddened, and freaked out a little. I can't possibly imagine what these families are going through.

Finch & Steeles is a particularly daunting intersection. I lived near there (while going to school at York), and even walking around there was awful. The truck traffic is intense, with the proximity to the highway and the petroleum storage near there.

It is hard to tell from the reports what happened. However, it seems more and more that trucks are the problem.
I think posting this satellite shot adds perspective to the situation. Its just a hideous car-oriented intersection. She most likely came off the sidewalk. But intersections like this don't matter if you're biking through the crosswalk or just trying to walk across it at a speed where traffic SHOULD see you. Its just a mean, nasty, and dangerous place. It would be great if they could redesign some of the suburban arterials to slow traffic down. The drivers will complain of course but it will be a much more liveable place.
Exactly. Many drivers making a right hand turn are only focused on the cars coming from their left. And you can see from this photo the radius of the curb curvature. It is large enough that drivers often take the corners fast. Pedestrians are a tiny speck way off to the right at the point in time when the driver decides it's safe to go. Then the pedestrian jumps back to the curb or runs ahead. I see it all the time.

I think it's especially important to consider redesigning them, now that suburban governments are all talking about encouraging pedestrian lifestyles.

And in line with Martino's point, I think the satellite photo shows at least four large trucks at the time the photo was taken. (I know it's not a real sampling).
Dur, I meand finch & keele. Too many eel's I guess.

The latest CBC article at http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/story/to_cycleaccidents20060421.html has some quotes from traffic services.

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