The community peace officer is urging pedestrians to use crosswalks in town, after a recent collision between two vehicles was believed to be caused by pedestrians not using a crosswalk near River Valley School.
“The RCMP did take one accident report where they believe that people not crossing in the crosswalks may have contributed to a minor collision,” said peace officer Kevin Heerema.
He said it is not only important for people to use crosswalks for their safety, but it is the law.
“That's where drivers expect to see people crossing the road. They don't expect them to be crossing in the middle of a block or popping out from between parked cars,” he said.
“It's the safest spot for them to cross at.”
Pedestrians are legally supposed to use crosswalks in all areas of town, including downtown Sundre.
“With that said, we see people doing it anyway. We see people crossing in the middle of the road. For the most part, if they're doing it in a safe manner I'm not going to bother those people, as long as they're not interfering with traffic,” he admitted.
“It becomes a problem when we've got people sort of running out into the roadway and just expecting other people to stop.”
The Town of Sundre's Traffic Bylaw #789 states the following:
11.1 No pedestrian shall cross any street or avenue except within a crosswalk.
11.2 Where crosswalks are marked in the school zone, no person shall cross any street or avenue within a block of such school zone between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a school day, except within the limits of a marked crosswalk.
As well, the Traffic Safety Act prohibits pedestrians from interfering with the movement of vehicles on the roadway, meaning pedestrians only have the right-of-way at or in a marked crosswalk and must yield to traffic at all other places on the road.
Fines for violating the town's bylaw as well as the Traffic Safety Act range from $57 to $115, he said.
“I do get complaints from pedestrians more often than from drivers. Just about the drivers not being cautious or not allowing people to use crosswalks,” he added.
“It's sort of both people's responsibility here. It's the pedestrian's responsibility to cross in a safe manner, and to ensure that the vehicles see them. It's also the driver's responsibility to stop when they do see somebody waiting to use a crosswalk,” he explained.
“I have seen cases where someone stood at the crosswalk waiting for a couple minutes before anybody will stop and that's just not right.”
