‘People are dying’: Advocate calls for more pedestrian protection along Hastings Street
Posted October 19, 2023 6:45 pm.
Last Updated October 19, 2023 6:46 pm.
A Downtown Eastside advocate is calling for more protection from vehicles along Hastings Street after a pedestrian was killed on a sidewalk on Thursday.
It all happened just before 11 a.m. in the Area of Hastings and Columbia streets, when Vancouver police say two cars collided in the intersection, resulting in one of them “jumping the curb and striking a pedestrian.”
Sarah Blyth says she doesn’t know all of the details surrounding this collision but urges drivers to be careful and mind their speed when driving through the area.
“We’ve been advocating for drivers to slow down in that area just because it’s extremely densely populated with social housing, and also homeless people, and just folks in the area,” she said.
“Slow down, take care, especially when it’s dark and rainy at this time of year. You can’t see people.”
Blyth says she wants to see some kind of protection changes made, but tells CityNews she’s open-minded about how the city can improve safety in the area.
“It’s really worth thinking about what can we do to make dense streets safer through that section because at this point people are dying on a fairly regular basis by being run over and hit by cars,” she said.
Content warning: Graphic content. Discretion is advised.
Blyth says some of these safety changes could be as simple as adding and improving signage to remind drivers of conditions, but some of her other ideas would see the roadway altered in a structural or functional sense.
“More could be done in terms of speed bumps, closing the street down to traffic, which I know might be challenging but people are dying,” she said, noting Hastings would likely have to be closed along the stretch between Main and Columbia streets.
Pedestrian-involved collisions are more than common on the Lower Mainland
As Blyth explained, people are dying. 35 pedestrians were killed on the Lower Mainland in 2022, which marked a slight decrease from the previous year.
Just over a year ago, a woman was killed after being struck by a driver on the Downtown Eastside. Just weeks later an 86-year-old man was killed in a collision on Commercial Drive, marking the tenth pedestrian killed in Vancouver in 2022.
According to data from ICBC, there is an average of over 2,400 motor vehicle collisions involving pedestrians every year.
2022’s total of pedestrian-involved collisions was significantly lower than the average, with ICBC saying 1,971 had been hit or involved in some way.
In order to help locals avoid collisions, an advocacy group took to the streets in September and placed stickers on the hydro polls and street lamps at intersections throughout Vancouver.
Those stickers include a handwritten number followed by printed text reading “crashes a year at this intersection.”
With files from Hana Mae Nassar, Greg Bowman, and Charlie Carey
