Sudbury Police Ramp up Pedestrian Safety Campaign with Study

Pedestrian collisions with vehicles are on the rise, and a new study is aiming to find out why. The icy winter months always produce more incidents with pedestrians, but accidents in Sudbury have been rife. The Greater Sudbury Police had an awareness campaign blitz in January to help the public understand safety for pedestrians for drivers and sidewalk occupants alike.

The law enforcement group is now expanding the initiative with a study that will aim to find out exactly why pedestrian incidents are on the rise:

“I think this is an excellent initiative,” Chief Shawn Devine told Baytoday. “I have tasked our Traffic Section with contacting Sudbury TS to advise that we are going to mirror their special study on the factors that contribute to pedestrian collisions and offer to share our finding.”

The study will include officers now including more specific details about pedestrian collisions in their reports, to ensure all facts are known. Sudbury Staff Sgt. Rick Waugh says the study aims to find out why collisions occur often when pedestrians have right of way, or conversely do not have right of way:

“We really wanted to try and better understand not just why collisions are occurring … but especially the ones involving pedestrians,” Waugh said.

Statistic shows that every pedestrian collision occurred at an intersection last year, compared to 24 per cent the year before, meaning intersections are now hotspots. The amount of accidents occurring when pedestrians do not have right of way has risen from 18 per cent in 2013 to 36 per cent in 2015. This suggests pedestrians are not obeying safe practices when crossing at intersections.

Since Jan. 1, police in Sudbury have added these categories to collision reports:

The presence of any distraction to a pedestrian including, but no limited to, the use of any electronic device or wearing clothing that interferes with sight or sound.
The nature of the clothing worn by a pedestrian, including color(s) or the use of reflective material
The use of a mobility aid, such as canes, walkers, crutch, wheelchair, skateboard, scooter etc.