8-foot banana peel gives Vancouver the slip

An eight-foot banana peel sculpture has been installed outside the London Drugs at Granville and Georgia Streets. And no, it’s not another Douglas Coupland pot-stirrer, but rather a reminder that, according to the Community Against Preventable Injuries (Preventable), 90 per cent of accidents are avoidable.

The universal symbol of the “accident waiting to happen”, the sculpture’s mission is to educate passersby that the vast majority of serious injuries – such as motor vehicle accidents, ladder falls, drownings and mixing medications – aren’t the result of “random, unconnected, unpredictable events” but the product of unsafe decisions.

“This campaign challenges the assumption that ‘bad stuff might happen to others, but not to me,’” says Dr. Ian Pike, spokesperson for Preventable. “Every day, we take risks that we know can lead to injury – we speed on our way to work, we text while crossing the street. The banana is an exaggeration of the risk that is right in front of us. Because we can see it coming, we can prevent it from happening.”

Injury is the leading cause of death of British Columbians aged one to 44. Every year in BC, there are approximately 2,000 deaths due to injury, which equates to one death every four hours and 24 minutes.

According to Loveena Chera of London Drugs, serious injuries not only impact families, but strain the provincial health care system to the tune of $6.3 million a day. “We hope that this installation reminds people that injuries can happen to anyone. The banana peel is a reminder that serious injuries aren’t accidents – we all know what to do to stay safe at home, at work, at play and on the road.”

The installation will be on display at 710 Granville Street from June 1-3 until 4pm each day. People are encouraged to take photos and share the image on social media with the hashtag #preventable, so go bananas (safely)!