The City of Vancouver has installed a mid-block crosswalk across a dangerous stretch of East Hastings between Main and Columbia streets in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents involving pedestrians.
The crosswalk, which includes a pedestrian-controlled stop light, travels from the north side of East Hastings near the Insite supervised drug injection site and links to the sidewalk outside the Regent Hotel on the south side of the street.
Jerry Dobrovolny, the city's director of transportation, said the $250,000 crosswalk was installed mid-block because the city's research showed there were 49 accidents at that spot over a six-year period. "That was a high crash location," said Dobrovolny, noting the research included data from the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C.
The installation of the crosswalk comes as Pivot Legal Society lawyer Douglas King and several members of the drug users' organization complained to the Vancouver Police Board Tuesday about the disproportionate number of tickets issued to Downtown Eastside residents for jaywalking.
Pivot obtained statistics from the police department via the Freedom of Information Act that revealed 76 per cent of the 2,699 jaywalking tickets issued in the city between 2008 and 2012 were to people in the Downtown Eastside.
Another 17 per cent were issued in downtown while none was handed out in Shaughnessy, Point Grey, Oakridge, Marpole, Killarney and several other neighbourhoods in the city.
King pointed out studies show jaywalking and crashes involving pedestrians occur all over the city, as a City of Vancouver pedestrian safety study indicated in 2012.
The study revealed there were 3,066 reported collisions involving pedestrians between 2005 and 2010 in Vancouver. The neighbourhoods with the highest number of pedestrian collisions per 100,000 residents and employees included Strathcona, Mount Pleasant, Grandview-Woodland, Shaughnessy and Kensington Cedar Cottage, the study said.
"There has to be a fundamental change to the policies that the VPD is using on bylaw enforcement, and it has to be a recognition that these policies that have been in place for the last five or 10 years have been incredibly harmful to the relationship between the department and the residents of the Downtown Eastside," said King, pointing out commissioner Wally Oppal recommended in his final report on the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry that the city and VPD take measures to reduce the number of tickets issued and charges laid for minor offences.
The police board ordered an investigation of Pivot's complaint but Police Chief Jim Chu defended the ticketing of people in the Downtown Eastside for jaywalking.
"It is dangerous for drivers who are going through that neighbourhood," said Chu, noting a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle June 4 while attempting to cross East Hastings mid-block near Carrall Street. "When you go down there and you can see some of the wanton disregard for our traffic rules on the road, there are safety concerns that arise."
Two years ago, the city lowered the speed limit along that stretch of East Hastings to 30 kilometres per hour. The city also increased crossing times at crosswalks and installed countdown timers. Though the penalty for a jaywalking ticket is $100, Chu said if a person can't afford to pay the ticket, "they don't have to," although he said community service work could be ordered instead. He said the purpose of issuing a ticket is to educate the public about the danger of jaywalking, which not only occurs mid-block but with pedestrians crossing at a red light.
A report on Pivot's complaint could go before the police board at its next meeting in July.
mhowell@vancourier.com
twitter.com/Howellings
