Reported motor vehicle crashes involving pedestrians, cyclists growing at an alarming rate

THUNDER BAY – In 2015, there were 111 reported motor vehicle collisions in the city involving pedestrians or cyclists.

Those numbers were included in the Thunder Bay Police Service’s annual collision statistics, which were obtained earlier this week.

The 76 pedestrians that were hit nearly doubles the 40 incidents that happened the previous year.

“There are two very vulnerable road users. I think in Thunder Bay, just like every other community in the province, things have become rather polarized. There’s the drivers versus everybody else who uses the road,” traffic Sgt. Glenn Porter said.

“Drivers have to remember that everybody else does have the right to use the road and it’s their responsibility to be watching. Yes, I know it’s the common complaint pedestrians don’t always do what they’re supposed to as it is with cyclists but at the end of the day avoiding collisions and reducing injury is what everybody should be concerned about.”

Pedestrian collisions were most frequent in the afternoon between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., with that three-hour span accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the incidents.

In the 75 reported collisions, the pedestrian was determined to be inattentive in 16 cases.

The statistics also track the actions of the pedestrian at the time of being struck. In 18 of the strikes the pedestrian was following the right of way, nine were crossing at a crosswalk without right of way, six were crossing where there was no traffic control and seven were running onto the roadway.

The condition of the driver was deemed inattentive in 12 incidents. In 23 of the collisions the driver was determined to have failed to yield the right of the way.

A number of the cases have been categorized as other or not classified.

Two pedestrians were killed in collisions last year, the same number as 2014.

In July, 91-year-old Jack Young died when he collided with the side of a city bus he had just exited after falling unconscious. In October, 20-year-old Stacy "JR" Kejick was killed in an early morning collision at the intersection of Court and Wilson streets.

“Pedestrians are trying to get to where they want to get to very quickly because they don’t want to freeze their ears off,” he said.

“The drivers have a nice, warm bubble and it’s nice and comfortable in there but they have to remember the pedestrian might not be watching as closely. It might lend to an unpredictable situation.”

In the 36 cyclist collisions, drivers were determined to be driving properly in 21 incidents and there were eight cases where the driver failed to yield.

There were 23 non-fatal injuries to the cyclists.

The statistics only apply to streets where city police have jurisdictions. Highways fall under the jurisdiction of the OPP.