Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is a densely populated neighbourhood filled with busy roads - and advocates are saying that more needs to be done to curb the number of pedestrian and vehicle collisions.
I live about a 15 minute walk from this intersection and commute through this area daily and can confirm that pedestrians do not follow the rules, often darting into traffic even when emergency vehicles are passing through with their lights on, that's why there are so many accidents.
Those intersections are designed like every other intersection in the city, it has absolutely nothing to do with intersection design, traffic patterns, driver behaviour, etc. It has everything to do with those intersections all being the entrances to the DTES area - so people go from driving on normal streets where pedestrians don't run into traffic, into the gateway intersections where suddenly people are trying to get hit. I'm not angry that CBC/ICBC/COV are trying to put more responsibility on drivers - I understand that instinct: we can always drive safer. But you will NEVER solve this problem with traffic cams or slower speeds - the ONLY solution here is to address the root cause: homelessness and addiction. Expand onsite/insite, build shelter for them, and encourage them to move somewhere that's not a major arterial road into a downtown core.
Often times, a junkie will just dart right out into traffic, because their brains are completely baked and not fried. So, you have to be careful when driving down there, because if you hit a junkie, it WILL damage your vehicle.
Those junkies are there for a reason… gentrifification never brang any good to a town, where do you want the poors to live when the whole city has became simply unnaffordable? They are pushed away to the gastown and this create a guetto of junkies and poor as no other place in van is affordable anymore for them they must be taken care of not beaten off by policemens or sent away to pg… the supervised injection site that opened is the first path to What the city should do to make life better in east van
Every who drives down that street knows they just run across the street disregarding traffic. They want to get hit. It would be a vacation to spend a few weeks in a hospital. I avoid that street like the plague. Put up a fence will stop J-walking .
Once we finally re-open our mental health institutions this and many other problems will be reduced exponentially, all at a far lesser cost than the current system. Closing those institutions has been an abysmal failure.
@@jtome84-91 You seem INSANE. I thought in BC you could cross any street (jaywalk) and cars would automatically stop. Try that in Ontario and you'll get turned into hamburger meat.
Hahahahahahahahahah!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!! THEY DART INTO TRAFFIC WHERE THERE ARE NO PEDESTRIAN CROSSINGS!! It’s not drivers.. It’s the people not walking in designated areas..
We should ask the junkies what they need. I think the junkies would disagree. I think instead of parks and benches, they would prefer more dope and free cash.
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Follow the rules of the street, you guys cross like you don’t care about your life and most of you are wandering like zombies on drugs. More enforcement on j walking please. Ridiculous.
It's not the drivers' fault. There are a lot of homeless people in that area who just cross wherever and whenever they please. The increased signage and additional crossings will do nothing to stop that behavior. The city of Vancouver is wasting money.
2:18 is really the key part of this piece. Unfortunate that the residents in the area have no where else to go, but enforcing a school zone speed in a downtown arterial road and putting the onus of managing "unpredictable pedestrians" primarily on drivers is bizarre.
It's hard to avoid hitting people when they walk in the middle of traffic on a red light while high on drugs. People get killed or stabbed in that area for no reason or robbed at knife and needle point. Drivers want to get out of there and I don't blame them.
So true, drivers need to be aware and city needs to provide more green space/ benches in the Downtown Eastside Community...more traffic 📷 s...stop criminalizing the poor..
Here's a tip to staying safe on the roads while crossing the streets: The most common types of vehicle-pedestrian collisions involve left-turning vehicles. While turning vehicles in general DO NOT have the right-of-way with the exception of a green turning arrow, needless to say because you can never be certain if the driver sees or anticipates you, it is imperative for pedestrians to ALWAYS do a "shoulder-check" and ensure that the coast is clear and that there is no threat of an incursion. Sadly, 50% or more of pedestrians do not follow this basic rule of thumb and always point the blame and onus on drivers. I somewhat agree, but if you want to be safe when crossing the streets; irrespective if you as a pedestrian have the right-of-way, NEVER assume that a driver sees you and you will be safe from such accidents. If you have a working brain, it really ain't that complicated! #LookBothWays #SeeAndBeSeen
Four years ago I was driving down Hastings Street westbound when I passed the intersection of Hastings and Main and it was in the evening time and there is a slight dip on the road with also the sun in my eyes. During that small dip people would often J- walk across the road right there but the problem is because it’s on a small hill you don’t see the person until they’re right in front of you. During this time I hit a woman with my car in that exact spot. Young homeless woman, I stopped my car immediately and got out to see if she was OK but I also didn’t move an inch because I didn’t want anybody to think I was going to do a hit and run. I waited for the police to show up and the ambulance. Once they knew my story of just driving straight down the road and some people walking in front of my vehicle they were able to let me go immediately. I definitely understand the frustration of driving down those streets.
sometimes you just feel like getting hit..then someone will notice ..i will be cared for a little while..but God looks out for us..and that's why you miss me..will you miss me? I'm nothing in your eyes as you pass me by..just a curse under your breath or a finger ..
Enforcement is not the solution. Speed bumps and pedestrian bridges are the solution. We need to find a method to relocate pedestrians away from such a busy road (make anti-homeless architecture in that area). Roads that are this busy should not have this many intersections (make some surrounding roads pedestrian only where they connect to Hastings). Fences preventing J-walking would be a great solution.
Might I add to my previous comment: if you watch the video again carefully you will see pedestrians not looking both ways (particularly doing a shoulder-check), but nonchalantly crossing, because they blindly assume that right-of-way grants them immunity from potential accidents. Well they're 99% true, but if you want 100% certainty, look both ways regardless if you're in the right-of-way. A perfect example is the elderly man with the logo on his jacket "United We Can" talking on his cellphone at a time when his concentration should be of his surroundings. There's your Number #1 pedestrian problem - assuming that it's the driver's responsibility to see you, without you doing your other half. #LookBothWays #SeeAndBeSeen
