Dear Editor:
In the wake of the tragic pedestrian fatality on Cariboo Road, it is time for the City of Burnaby to start taking pedestrian safety more seriously.
In a story on Global News, the assistant director of engineering, Doug Louie, admits that the city has known there are problems with this specific crosswalk from feedback from community members. Louie indicates an initial review of that crosswalks was done and now a further review will be done in the wake of the tragedy. It would be very interesting to see what the initial complaints were and how the city addressed those concerns or whether they simply just dismissed them. One has to wonder if the City of Burnaby had properly addressed those concerns then perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided.
And I know this is hardly the only crosswalk that community members have major safety concerns with.
One of the most dangerous crosswalks I regularly travel by is on Gilley Avenue, along the Highland Park Line Trail. I’ve seen several close calls at this crosswalk as vehicles pull around cars turning left immediately after the crosswalk onto Beresford, and end up almost striking pedestrians in the crosswalk. There are no flashing lights and inadequate street lighting at this crosswalk.
This area is also becoming higher density, meaning more car and pedestrian traffic. Will it take someone getting hurt (or worse) in this crosswalk before something gets changed here as well?
As Burnaby grows and gets busy, it’s extremely important for city hall to ensure there is safe and adequate infrastructure in place to handle the increased population and traffic. And this must be done not only in high development areas such as Brentwood and Metrotown but also in surrounding neighbourhoods.
Certainly Burnaby has enough money to be making these improvements, so why are improvements not being done?
Keith Bemister, Burnaby
