Charges have now been laid against the alleged drunk driver accused of running down and killing a North Vancouver man on March 31.
Aldo Trinetti, 48, is facing three criminal charges that include impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and failure or refusal to provide a sample.
According to police, the 31-year-old victim was crossing Lonsdale Avenue in the Fourth Street crosswalk just before midnight on Thursday when Trinetti failed to stop for him.
Paramedics performed CPR at the scene but the victim later died in hospital.
Trinetti has since been released on bail with conditions that he abstain from alcohol and refrain from driving.
BC Coroners Service has not yet released the name of the victim. Trinetti is due back in court on May 18.
Notwithstanding the charges and the nature of the case, residents in Lower Lonsdale say the street is dangerous to cross, even in ideal conditions.
“That street is terrible. It’s getting worse, honest to God,” said Michele Matheson. “It is a gong show.”
Matheson said there have been numerous collisions with pedestrians, near misses and even a dog hit and killed by a car over the last year.
That intersection is particularly bad for visibility, she said.
“When you’re driving up the hill, you can’t really see the crest of that crosswalk all that well, especially at night, especially in the rain. Idiots are in dark clothing wearing headsets,” she said.
Lonsdale and Fourth, and other crosswalks like it, should be better lit or include fast-blinking lights, Matheson said.
Worse still is the speed drivers tend to do up and down Lonsdale, Matheson added. While a six-foot speed bump or spike belt would do the job, Matheson said she’d like to see a slower speed limit or a sign that warns drivers when they’re over the speed limit.
The morning after the fatality, neighbour Britta Dansereau took it upon herself to install poster board signs asking drivers to slow down. The signs were removed a short time later but the city has plans to install a new pedestrian controlled signal at Fourth, according to Mayor Darrell Mussatto. The city has also begun installing traffic bulges on the corners in Lower Lonsdale, which are meant to create a greater buffer between traffic and pedestrians and force drivers to slow down.
Before moving ahead with any more major changes, there would have to be a proper traffic audit “to make sure that the proper solution is applied to the right problem,” Mussatto said.
“You don’t want to just start throwing things at it that may or may not work.”
Mussatto said he generally favours slower speed limits over faster ones.
“The biggest problem is drivers. They’re in too much of a hurry, trying too quick to get where they’re going and not paying attention, driving irresponsibly. That’s a problem. Maybe we need to work with the RCMP to step up enforcement,” he said.
And pedestrians too must take an active role in their own safety, Mussatto said, especially when it comes to making themselves visible.
“As a paramedic, I did so many ambulance calls where people were in crosswalks and if they had dark clothing on, they were almost impossible to see,” he said.
