Can adding a crosswalk on a road actually make things “more dangerous” for pedestrians?
That’s what the City of Burnaby is telling one resident who formally requested a crosswalk.
The request was made for the intersection of Rumble Street and Hedley Avenue, between Gilley Avenue and Griffiths Drive. This is a known ratrunner route for people trying to avoid the trafficalypse that is Kingsway.
The resident who made the request shared their story with me, but doesn’t want their name used. They did, however, provide a copy of the request for verification purposes and a copy of all correspondence from the City of Burnaby.
“I've lived in this area for almost nine years and have seen an increase in traffic along Rumble with no upgrades made to the street,” said the resident. “There's a crosswalk at Rumble and Gilley and another crosswalk at Rumble right near Griffiths. That's a 900-metre stretch without a crosswalk.”
The city responded with an email from a traffic technician saying the issue is about pedestrian volume.
“After checking the record, we conducted a pedestrian study at Rumble and Hedley on June 11, 2018 and the result showed the pedestrian volume crossing Rumble is very low and doesn’t warrant for a marked crosswalk,” the technician wrote.
And then, the technician dropped this on the resident:“Please be advised that an unwarranted crosswalk is actually more dangerous than without one, as the drivers don’t expect a pedestrian will step onto the road.”
Look, I’m sure the technician is a qualified, but I just don’t get this explanation. Ratrunners are not thinking about if this area has a lot of pedestrians – they are too busy selfishly and recklessly trying to save some time. I don’t see how a crosswalk makes things “more dangerous.” I think not having a crosswalk is what makes things dangerous.
I’m not saying this street needs a crosswalk, but this explanation sounds odd.
As for the resident who made the request, she responded to the pedestrian-volume explanation by saying it’s more an issue of traffic volume.
“The underlying issue is the high volume of traffic on the street that makes crossing more difficult,” the resident said. “It's not just the number of people crossing the street, but that sometimes I need to wait for 40 cars to go by before there's a break big enough to cross.”
Now that makes sense.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
