Renewed calls for traffic light in Fairview after fatal crash

Partho Ghosh is one of many people in Vancouver’s Fairview community calling for a traffic light at the intersection of Oak Street and 6th Avenue.

“These kinds of cars just take the turn, they don’t see you,” he told CityNews.

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Ghosh lives on the corner of Oak Street and 6th Avenue.

“The amount of traffic that comes in here from 6th Avenue and Oak Street, it really gets used almost like a highway, people don’t realize there are residents that live here.”

And these worries are not new. Since 2018, residents have been voicing their concerns about safety at this intersection, concerns that have been growing following the death of a pedestrian earlier this month.

On April 8, a 68-year-old man was crossing this intersection around 9 a.m. when he was allegedly struck by the driver of a GMC.

Police say the driver initially fled the scene, but have since confirmed the person has been identified.

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“People in cars use it as a yield instead of a stop, and they don’t look if people are crossing,” Ghosh said.

He adds that drivers have struck a garden and a fire hydrant before.

A school and a child-care centre are also located near the intersection.

According to ICBC data, between 2020 and 2024, there were 96 crashes at Oak Street and 8th Avenue, 30 of them resulting in injury or death.

“It is literally the middle of the day too, rush hour, it gets much busier in the morning, it gets jam-packed,” Ghosh explained.

Even before the fatal collision, residents had raised the alarm with the city.

In an email exchange provided to CityNews by a resident, they were told by a city official that the intersection is not a priority.

“A study was completed at Oak Street and 6th Avenue, and a full signal is already warranted. However, based on our signal priority list, this location is not ranked above other similar signal candidate locations.”

CityNews reached out to the City of Vancouver, which provided a written statement, saying that it does not have any current plans to add a traffic signal to this location, but it will continue to review.

For now, residents like Ghosh say they are relying on whatever safety measures they can.

“We wear this [a reflecting vest], it doesn’t have to be dark to wear it, I wear it because if you are crossing, you hope someone sees it,” Ghosh said while holding up a reflecting vest.

“Funny enough, we have a bright yellow umbrella. I shake it to show people I am crossing, it does something hopefully, but still not as good as a traffic light.”