Pedestrian struck by vehicle at MRU campus crosswalk
Bella Coco, News Editor |
Earlier this month, an MRU student got hit by a vehicle while crossing through Richardson Way S.W. crosswalk to the North Entrance of campus.
It is known throughout the MRU campus that the crosswalk between Richardson Way and the North Entrance is notoriously long with no light or alert system to incoming traffic. The crosswalk spans across six lanes of traffic— four driving lanes and two turn lanes—-with a maximum speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour.
An individual claiming to be the student who was hit in the crosswalk reached out to MRU Chatter, the go-to confidential confession page for MRU student, faculty and staff life.
“I was the one who got hit by the car yesterday but I’m okay! Nothing too serious, just a concussion and bruising all over my body with a big hematoma on the back of my head,” the post read.
The Reflector attempted to reach out to the individual through MRU Chatter, but did not receive a response.
Requests can be submitted to the city to have pedestrian activated lights at a preexisting crosswalk, on the City of Calgary website, where one can provide the street address, surrounding building information, contact information and additional details if necessary.
In 2022, there were 437 injury collisions involving pedestrians in Calgary, which included fatalities and major injuries.
According to the Calgary Safer Mobility Plan (which was briefed in 2023), there was an aim to reduce injuries and fatalities from mobile vehicles by 25 per cent.
The 2024 brief has not been released yet, but the city has “Been working with Calgary Police Service on the development of the first unified plan as core partners working towards safer mobility and reducing harm on our roadways. The new plan will be built on our past successes and principles of continuous improvements and expanding collaboration with our partners and communities. We anticipate completion in 2024.”
As for pedestrian safety and signage, the city is collaborating on standardizing signal operations and the safety at intersections.
“The policy is driven by our goal to achieve safer outcomes for vulnerable road users. The guiding principle is achieving a network wide impact through relatively low-cost proven interventions to improve pedestrian safety. This work will focus on refining pedestrian walk and clearance intervals and other operational features (right turn on red restrictions, leading pedestrian intervals, turn protection, and pedestrian scramble) to improve pedestrian safety. A draft of the policy is expected by the second quarter of 2024,” the brief reads.
The Reflector will further explore pedestrian safety on campus with the city’s upcoming 2024 mobility plan and statistics, and will be reaching out to MRU campus security and parking services for a follow-up story on campus security and pedestrian safety in a future issue.
