September 29, 2017
Four pedestrians have been killed by cars in Scarborough since Wednesday night. Metro Morning producer Morgan Passi visited the street where a mother and her five-year-old daughter were killed. Professor Paul Hess joined her on location and discussed the relationship between built environment and safety.
Listen to the Metro Morning podcast Pedestrian Safety on Suburban Streets.
Excerpt
When asked “What could be done on a street like this to make it safer for pedestrians?” Professor Hess replied:
“You have to make some choices, and the choices are probably going to impact traffic.
If you really want to do it, you can:
- slow down traffic – using speed limits, or design features such as narrowing the street
- add more protected pedestrian crossings – with lights.
Congestion and getting around the city is a big issue and a big political issue. So we’re actually making choices, as a society, what kind of trade-offs we want to make in terms of moving traffic, and people’s lives.”