The death of a 31-year-old North Vancouver man because of an allegedly impaired driver behind the wheel last week was an absolute tragedy and we grieve for his family.
And we look forward to the accused having his day in court.
But residents in Lower Lonsdale say the avenue is perilous for pedestrians and cyclists even when alcohol isn’t a factor.
Lower Lonsdale is certainly meant to be the North Shore’s most walkable neighbourhood but people must take their life in their hands when they cross its namesake street.
In a more civilized time, electric trollies shuttled people up and down the spine of North Vancouver but with cheap gas and plenty of road space, our culture soon started to conflate speed and free parking with quality of life. And we began to plan our cities and public spaces accordingly.
In his sweeping 260-page report Where the Rubber Meets the Road, provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall unveils some telling numbers on road safety and some bold recommendations. Each year, about 280 people are killed and another 79,000 are injured on B.C. roads, and speed was to blame in approximately one-third of those cases.
Among Kendall’s proposed remedies is prioritizing pedestrian and cyclist safety in designing our streets and lowering the speed limit to 30 kilometres per hour in urban areas. Of course, it would be a shock to our culture that tells us streets are for cars and cars for speed but we say it’s an idea worth considering. It’s time we shifted gears.
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