A North Saanich councillor with a professional background in traffic safety is calling for greater attentiveness after a vehicle nearly hit his daughter in a crosswalk.
Coun. Jack McClintock said drivers need to pay more attention not only at marked crosswalks, but at any point where the sidewalk is meeting a roadway.
He made those comments after a vehicle nearly hit his daughter Saturday afternoon, as she was crossing Willingdon Road near the entrance to Victoria International Airport, while riding the Flight Path, a popular recreation path ringing the airport.
The incident — which happened just before 3 p.m. — saw McClintock’s daughter ride through the crosswalk with a white truck having stopped to let her cross. But as McClintock’s daughter was crossing, another vehicle – a blue Mazda-type vehicle with spoilers — came up from behind the stopped truck and nearly hit her, before continuing eastbound on Willingdon Road.
“Just as she approaching the driver’s side fender as she in crossing in front of the white truck, she had to take evasive action and ended up falling on the ground,” he said, adding it is unclear how fast the blue vehicle went. “She didn’t hear it coming. Her description was ‘it sped off.'”
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The white truck as well another vehicle – a red SUV heading westbound on Willingdon Road – observed the incident, with the driver of the blue vehicle failing to stop to check on McClintock’s daughter.
McClintock filed a police report but is sharing this incident with the public to help identify the offending vehicle and raise awareness of traffic safety, as both Willingdon Road and the recreation path respectively draw motorists on one hand and cyclists and pedestrians on the other.
“I was a traffic cop for six years, so I have been to hundreds of accidents,” he said. “They all could have been avoided if everybody had done what they were supposed to be doing.”
For drivers, this means not only stopping at crosswalks, but also not passing vehicles that have stopped as the sought-after vehicle did Saturday.
This said, pedestrians also have a role. “There is also a responsibility on the person making that cross not to think that they are in an avenue of safety just because they are in a marked crosswalk. You are just as vulnerable in marked crosswalk than in a crosswalk that is not marked.”
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