*Councillor blasts decision not to focus on improving safety at dangerous intersections for those on foot*

* ‘Watch out, pedestrians’ *

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/collision-counts- take-priority-over-pedestrian-injuries-in-intersection- improvements-412329253.html

PEDESTRIAN safety is taking a back seat to motorist safety at city hall.

A civic committee Tuesday rejected a proposal that would target engineering improvements at intersections with the highest number of pedestrian/vehicle collisions.

Luis Escobar, the city’s transportation manager, told councillors on the public works committee that his staff annually reviews all 1,900 intersections across the city and highlights for improvements those where the greatest number of traffic-related injuries or fatalities occur — and currently those intersections most dangerous to pedestrians don’t make that list.

“While it is worthwhile looking at pedestrian collisions only, intersections with high collisions and all types of fatalities are important,” Escobar told the committee. “While I respect the desire to focus on pedestrians, it would be good to look at all intersections where there is a high level of injury and focus on those ones.”

City council sets aside about $1 million annually to improve intersections that have a high frequency of collisions.

Escobar was responding to a proposal from Coun. Janice Lukes and the Riel community committee, which passed a resolution requesting the public works committee direct the public works department to include the top 12 intersections considered most dangerous to pedestrians — according to Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) collision data — for this year’s engineering improvements.

According to MPI’s most recent data for collisions between 2011 and 2015, there is no overlap of intersections where the most pedestrian/vehicle collisions and motor-vehicle collisions occur.

Escobar said his department is preparing a list of the intersections that will be made safer in 2017, based on collision counts.

To then include intersections most dangerous for pedestrians would cause unnecessary delay, he said.

“To put all of that work aside and focus on (pedestrian collision intersections) would almost set back this year’s traffic engineering program,” Escobar said.

Councillors on the public works committee agreed and voted to take no action on the proposal from Lukes and the Riel community committee.

“I’m quite comfortable relying on our experts to tell uswhat is needed,” Coun. Marty Morantz, chairman of the public works committee, said.

Lukes said Escobar’s rationale and the committee’s decision to support him demonstrate that the car remains Winnipeg’s No. 1 priority.

“We are not putting the most vulnerable road user at the top of the priority list but at the bottom — so, watch out pedestrians,” Lukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert) said.

Lukes said vehicle-on-vehicle collisions vastly outnumber those involving pedestrians, adding that with the city’s current policy, pedestrian safety will never become a priority.

Lukes, who built a career before coming to city hall advocating for pedestrians and cycling strategies, said city hall’s disregard for pedestrian safety is the exact opposite of the policy of the City of Vancouver, which she said targets intersections most dangerous to pedestrians for engineering improvements.

Escobar did not provide the committee with the list of intersections to be improved this year.

A civic spokeswoman said the intersection list has not been finalized, and the information won’t be released publicly before it’s presented to the committee.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca