Three seniors have been hit by vehicles while in crosswalks in downtown Maple Ridge this year.
Two died.
The third, an 88-year-old woman, sustained life-threatening injuries when hit by a pickup truck while crossing 224th Street.
The other two were hit at the crosswalk on 222 Street at Dewdney Trunk Road.
The district has made safety improvements at crossings downtown in the past few years, including bulb-outs, overhead pedestrian crossing signs with downward lights, more visible crosswalk features, even a speed-reader sign.
Yet crossing the street remains risky.
Last year, a group calling itself the seniors traffic control committee presented council with a petition with 860 signatures, asking, predominantly, for a pedestrian controlled light somewhere on 224th Street, east of Dewdney Trunk Road.
But the district is reluctant to add one, arguing that the amount of traffic on that stretch doesn’t justify one, and that such lights are too confusing.
The problem, the district maintains, is drivers, whether speeding or distracted.
One the surface, a pedestrian-controlled light seems like an effective way to combat that.
But the district suggests more onus be put on pedestrians, to stick out a hand and make eye contact with drivers before crossing.
But that won’t help once someone’s in the middle of a crosswalk. And much of the downtown population is elderly. Some aren’t very mobile, and who knows their state of health, whether they struggle with arthritis, degenerating eyesight, or early onset dementia.
Ongoing plans to densify the downtown will only create more pedestrian traffic, likely attracting even more seniors.
The district needs to do more to ensure safety on our downtown streets,
Short of adding crossing guards, and single-day crackdowns on drivers, or another education campaign, adding a pedestrian controlled light seems like a logical step.
Cost should be no excuse when it comes to saving lives.
Even one death is too many.
– The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News
