Of late there has been articles about pedestrians being hit and far too often the pedestrian is blamed for not being visible enough.
Yes, in some situations that may be the case, unfortunately far too often the drivers have no excuse for hitting or almost hitting a pedestrian. One of the biggest problems is police do not enforce the rules of the road at marked and unmarked intersections.
When a police officer advises pedestrians to “engage the eyes of the driver” they obviously have not walked across many intersections recently. It is not possible to engage all of the drivers’ eyes simultaneously especially when they refuse to look at the pedestrians. Far too often I have been almost hit in the middle of a crosswalk in the middle of the day. Yes, an intersection can be complicated for drivers, especially when at least one driver will decide to drive according to their own rules. Even more frustrating is on many occasions the police have been asked to enforce the rules of the road with respect to pedestrians more at specific intersections that have frequent problems. They have done nothing to enforce the rules.
Norm Ryder
Central saanich
