More details needed in monthly collision reports says pedestrian safety advocate

By Meghan Groff

A pedestrian safety advocate wants more details included in the region's vehicle/pedestrian collision statistics.

The monthly report from the Halifax Regional Police and Halifax District RCMP includes information like the age and gender of both the driver and pedestrian, time of day, weather conditions, along with whether the driver was making a turn and in which direction.

It also includes whether the pedestrian was in a crosswalk, but Matt Spurway with the Crosswalk Safety Society of Nova Scotia said that's not good enough.

“What we can't tell from these reports is how many of these collisions happened at mid-block crosswalks, how many happened at four-way stops, how many happened where there are signalized intersections,” he told NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show.

The Crosswalk Safety Society of Nova Scotia advocates for installing reflective fluorescent orange flags at intersections, however Spurway said they aren't allowed in some locations in Halifax Regional Municipality, including roundabouts, four-way stops and signalized intersections.

He'd like the organization to have permission to try them out in some of those locations to see if the statistics improve.

“There's no doubt we could be doing a lot more with that data to understand the how and why people are getting hurt so we can try to reduce that,” said Spurway.

According to the HRP/RCMP report, as of March 31st there have been 54 reported vehicle/pedestrian collisions in HRM so far this year, 34 of those (63 per cent) happened in a crosswalk.

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