Watch your step! Windsor's most dangerous pedestrian, cyclist pathways

The most dangerouswalkways for pedestrians in Windsorincludeastretch on Wyandotte Street East andon Tecumseh Road East but the city says it's en route to making them better.

The first Vision Zero progress report heads to the city's Environment, Transportation and Public Safety standing committee Wednesday. Outlined in the report are trends and patterns from the most recent traffic collisions in Windsor, specifically those leading to deaths and major injuries.

This update comes amid an investigation into thelatest fatal hit and run, when aman in his early 80s was struck and killed in downtown Windsor on Oct. 15. Police are still searching for a suspect, but have identified two possible vehicles.

This latest report headed to the city is a step toward creating an action planfor the Vision Zero policy, which was implemented in February 2020.

"We've identified strategic priorities based on the collision data for the collisions that we actually see in Windsor, so not just theoretical ideas aboutwhat might be going on but what has been going on historically," said the report's author Jeff Hagan, who is also the city's transportation planning senior engineer.

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There have been eight pedestrians hit between 2015 and 2019 at the Ouellette Avenue and Wyandotte Street East intersection. Princess Small and Bob Wilson say the area doesn't always feel the most safe.

Report highlights bad stretches, impairment

The nine page report identifies a handful of key themes from the most recent data collected between2015 and 2019.

A main takeaway from the report is that although pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists are only involved in five per cent of all collisions, they make up nearly half of all deaths or major injuries.

According to the data collected, the worst stretches of road those with highest risk of injury for pedestrians include Wyandotte Street East, between Ouellette Avenue and Chilver Road, and Tecumseh Street East, between Jefferson Boulevard and Forest Glade Drive.

For cyclists, the most dangerous bit of road is Wyandotte Street from Pelissier Street to Parent Avenue.

Although alcohol played a role in about 12 per cent of all collisions between 2015 and 2019, drug impairmentbecamean increasingly common factor.

The report also found that intersections with traffic lightshad the greatest numberof deaths and major injury collisions for all road users, except for motorcyclists.

"A lot of our signalized intersections are the intersections of our busiest roads and carrying the highest speeds," Hagansaid.

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Andalieb Abu-Zahra says there needs to be more done to make main and residential streets more safe for pedestrians. She lives in Walkerville and wants to see more physical measures in place, like speed bumps or signage, to alert careless drivers.

The report saysthat in order to save one pedestrian's life, at least 11 collisions need to be prevented. To save one cyclist's life, about 24 collisions need to be prevented.

"Rather than looking at it pessimistically, I see that as an area for hope. It does mean that money and effort spent on road safety measures especially for vulnerable road users can very quickly pay off," he said.

Compared to the rest of the province, Windsor's collision death rate is lower, but it's injury rateis higher, according to the city's 2019 Safety Report.

What's happening right now?

Initiatives such as several ongoing traffic calming studies, extended pedestrian crosswalk times, signs and pavement markings and red light cameras which were implemented this fall arein the works.

The city was having a discussion on reducing the speed limit on all non-arterial roads from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. In April council deferred this deision to administration so that it would be included in the planning for the city's Vision Zero Policy.

What's next?

The second progress report on Vision Zero is expected for early next year. ByMarch 2022, Hagan said they hope to have an action plan that will inform city council on specific strategies or policies to implement.

As for the most dangerous roadways in Windsor, Hagan said they are looking into performing a road safety audit. This would help them better understand what sorts of collisions are happening and why, along with ways to prevent them.

For now, Hagan said they are also working through some data gaps that would better inform certain initiatives.

For example, Hagan said some regions in the province are able to knowrepeat traffic offenders. He said this would be helpful to know as they might be able to work with the drivers to ensure they are being more cautious.

Another challenge is information sharing between police, EMS, hospitals and the city. Hagan said when collisions take place each organization might receive different details on what took place.

He said they hope to be able to share those reports with each otherso everyone is getting the full picture.