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The Peterborough Police Service is facing criticism for a new pedestrian safety campaign that one advocate says amounts to “victim blaming.”
Last Wednesday, the police service put out a news release with a series of safety tips for pedestrians on city streets and rural roads, as part of a joint campaign with the City of Peterborough, Peterborough County and Peterborough Public Health.
One of the tips is to avoid walking at night.
“If possible, avoid walking after dark, especially on rural roads as visibility is low, and drivers may not expect pedestrians. If walking is unavoidable, ensure you have sufficient lighting and reflective
gear,” the release states.
Telling people not to walk at night is “ridiculous,” said Sue Sauve, the city’s former transportation demand management planner. “People walk home from work in the winter time – it’s dark at 4:30 [p.m.],” she said.
Sauve said the campaign, called #walksafe, puts too much emphasis on pedestrian behaviour, when driver behaviour and road design should be the priority in safety initiatives.
The release includes nine tips for pedestrians, such as wearing reflective clothing and choosing routes that are well-lit and have the least amount of traffic. Meanwhile, there are three tips for drivers to avoid hitting pedestrians, such as following the speed limit and looking twice before turning.
“This campaign is a 1950s-style education campaign that has been proven time and time again to not have any effect on the rates of pedestrian injuries,” Sauve said.
What would make streets safer? One thing the city could do is install advanced pedestrian signals to give people on foot a head start when crossing intersections so they are more visible to drivers, Sauve said. Curb extensions could also be added to intersections to give pedestrians more protection when crossing streets, she said.
“We want to see that kind of change instead of this victim blaming kind of education campaign,” she said. She called for the city to create an “evidence-based transportation safety plan” that ensures streets are safe for everyone.
Pamela Fuselli, CEO of injury prevention charity Parachute Canada, said education campaigns like this one are “one of the less effective” ways to boost road safety.
“There are still pedestrians that are… doing all the right things, they're obeying all the rules of the road, and they're still hit,” she said.
She said changes to road design are crucial to limit vehicle speeds and protect pedestrians.
“Putting the onus on pedestrians is not the right way to do it,” she said. She said streets should be designed in a way that allows pedestrians to “make a mistake and not be killed for it.”
Peterborough has installed traffic calming measures designed to limit vehicle speeds on several residential streets in recent years, but city council has voted against continuing to roll out more of the measures for the last two years. Council has instead asked city staff to look into the feasibility of lowering the speed limit to 40 kilometers per hour city wide.
There were 44 pedestrian-involved collisions in the area patrolled by Peterborough Police in 2024, according to the news release. Thirty-nine of them resulted in an injury.
A Peterborough Police spokesperson defended the #walksafe campaign in a statement sent on behalf of all four organizations involved.
“Keeping pedestrians safe on the road is a responsibility shared among all road users,” Sandra Dueck wrote. “Accordingly, tips were provided for both pedestrians and motorists.”
She added that pedestrian safety “is a shared responsibility best addressed by a variety of interventions.” |
