Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[danbrotherston]

I'm not saying it is. But a person is dead, and that did not need to happen.

It did not need to happen, no. But driver in the original incident lost control (mistake? summer tires? something else?). And people made the mistake of exiting the car, and standing in a dangerous place, and were hit by another car whose driver was trying to avoid the original incident. Likely the visibility was bad so the driver did not see the people in time.

I don't have an easy solution for this one. Driving slower in poor conditions would make a lot of sense but is difficult to enforce. Putting out a flare or a warning triangle for the accident would be good but most people don't have those (four-way flashers would be better than nothing). Teaching people to  avoid danger after an accident is important but many people don't think of this.

I don't think there are easy solutions for safety. Even when there are "easy solutions" they are not easy. This is what makes me angry. Why aren't we upset about this. Why do we keep defending it.

London Police as a result of this collision gave a list of ways in which pedestrians can be blamed for being hit including clothing. Hamilton Police actually did lay charges of dangerous driving, likely as a result of the witness testimony about the aggressive driving, but if that driver had not actually hit a child, that same testimony of dangerous driving wouldn't have led to so much as a warning.

So much of our culture is about tolerating and enabling dangerous driving and presenting death as just a natural part of our roads. If we want safer roads, that is what we must change.