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Spate of Pedestrian Deaths in GTA

Today I was almost hit by a car. I was walking in a Walmart parking lot crossing the driveway to the store (there are yellow lines and speed bumps in front of the main doors and cars have to slow down and watch) when an elderly woman hit the gas and almost plowed into me. Now I'm thinking she probably meant the brake (hopefully) but it got me thinking about this topic. As a driver, and I drive every day, it's really easy to get impatient with pedestrians but they do have the right of way on a green. I get honked at regularly waiting for people to cross but I either flip the honker the bird or just ignore them. They don't see what I see (being the car in front) and will just have to wait.

I have no solutions to offer as to how to improve traffic and pedestrian safety in the GTA. People just seem to always be in a rush, a bad mood and generally grumpy.

I am appalled at that driver who drove around the car waiting for people to cross at Yonge/Sheppard to make the turn mentioned above. What a jerk!
 
With the current discussion about the recent pedestrian deaths, when I came across this article from planetizen.com that included a video on a streetcar (I think it really was a cable car) traveling down Market Street in San Francisco in 1905. Before the earthquake/fire of 1906 destroyed the area.
It is interesting in that using today's rules of the road, almost everyone would be ticketed (including the policemen). It is 7 minutes 10 seconds long, so look at it from the point of view of safety.
[video=youtube;NINOxRxze9k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINOxRxze9k[/video]
It does show that streets used to be a place where people actually walked on. Sidewalks were made to be above the mud and animal by-products.
 
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I was almost hit by a truck today. After a medical appointment, I was walking along that street behind Mt. Sinai Hospital and there was construction going on, with a sign telling pedestrians to walk across the street and use the sidewalk on the other side of the street. There are no street lights on that whole street. (So of course, I have no choice but to jaywalk) Directly across the street is a huge truck, parked along the road.(and more construction going on at the hospital) I cross the street and as soon as I get near what I thought was a parked truck, it all of a sudden plunges forward, just missing me by inches. The guy was parked and sitting in his truck while I walked along that whole street and as soon as I get in front of his truck, he decides to go. WTF! Then he backs up the truck again into the same place and gives me a dirty look. lol

I had my camera with me and went back to film the situation, to use in a video at some point. What a bad situation for anyone having to walk there.
 
BlueCat said:
Today I was almost hit by a car. I was walking in a Walmart parking lot crossing the driveway to the store (there are yellow lines and speed bumps in front of the main doors and cars have to slow down and watch) when an elderly woman hit the gas and almost plowed into me.
Click to expand...
Stop signs, yellow lines, etc have no legal power in private parking lots. If you're going to walk in a parking lot, you'd better look out, since stop signs on private property are just a courtesy.
 
Torontovibe said:
I was almost hit by a truck today. After a medical appointment, I was walking along that street behind Mt. Sinai Hospital and there was construction going on, with a sign telling pedestrians to walk across the street and use the sidewalk on the other side of the street. There are no street lights on that whole street. (So of course, I have no choice but to jaywalk) Directly across the street is a huge truck, parked along the road.(and more construction going on at the hospital) I cross the street and as soon as I get near what I thought was a parked truck, it all of a sudden plunges forward, just missing me by inches. The guy was parked and sitting in his truck while I walked along that whole street and as soon as I get in front of his truck, he decides to go. WTF! Then he backs up the truck again into the same place and gives me a dirty look. lol

I had my camera with me and went back to film the situation, to use in a video at some point. What a bad situation for anyone having to walk there.
Click to expand...
You broke the law by jaywalking, and a truck didn't expect to see you in the road space outside of a marked crossing and almost ran you over. Had the truck ran you over, I'm not sure you'd be at no fault.
 
Admiral Beez said:
You broke the law by jaywalking, and a truck didn't expect to see you in the road space outside of a marked crossing and almost ran you over. Had the truck ran you over, I'm not sure you'd be at no fault.
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Are you joking? Which jaywalking law did he break?
 
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Another close call....

I was waiting to cross the street yesterday and watched in amazement as this very elderly man with a cane very slowly crossed St.Clair, nowhere near the lights.

Cars were approaching and he just looked straight ahead and strolled towards the curb.
He never onced looked in either direction.

It was insane.

I don't want to see elderly people run over but for the love of god, what possesses people who are old, and have mobility problems or others like this to think it's okay to do this?

Many years ago, my father made the observation that the worst offenders as pedestrians were the elderly because as he declared, they just walk off the curb without looking and get killed.

People need to pay attention and be aware of their surroundings and obey the rules but this seems to be not the case more and more out there.....

And don't even get me started about when I'm in the car with someone a driver who makes calls on their cell and I'm wondering if I'm about to die because they're aren't looking at the road.
 
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Admiral Beez said:
No. He said he jaywalked. The same law people get ticketed for.
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He might have said he did ... but I don't think there's any law against crossing a street in an absence of crosswalks and signals. There might be a law about walking in front of moving vehicles ... but crossing an empty street that has no traffic lights is not a crime.
 
nfitz said:
He might have said he did ... but I don't think there's any law against crossing a street in an absence of crosswalks and signals. There might be a law about walking in front of moving vehicles ... but crossing an empty street that has no traffic lights is not a crime.
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Actually, by law, failing to use a crosswalk or disobeying a "don't walk" signal is a traffic offence warranting a fine of $85. It might not be a crime, but it's a fineable offence.
 
nfitz said:
Am I the only driver who will admit to having on occasion not noticed that one was flashing? They are pretty obvious in night-tiem, but quite frankly in bright sunlight, the things aren't as apparent as they should be.
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I have never understood why the Crosswalk Lights are not Red instead of Yellow when deployed they are in fact a Stop are they not. The Yellow is very difficult to notice during daylight !
 
PinkLucy said:
Actually, by law, failing to use a crosswalk or disobeying a "don't walk" signal is a traffic offence warranting a fine of $85. It might not be a crime, but it's a fineable offence.
Click to expand...

As I understand it, the law only applies if there is a crosswalk in the immediate vicinity. Legally, pedestrians can 'jaywalk' anywhere provided the road is clear.

The law isn't that you must ALWAYS use a crosswalk, but rather that you must use a crosswalk if one is available to you.

Not quite sure on the "Don't Walk" law, but if that applies the second the orange hand starts flashing then it's a goddamn ridiculous law that everyone breaks.
 
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