Safety first

South Osborne

Elmwood

St. Boniface

Dozens of Winnipeg residents rallied at a South Osborne intersection on the afternoon of Nov. 13, calling on the city to make streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

The rally, held at the intersection of Osborne Street and Brandon Avenue, was initiated after a 10-year-old boy named Jakob was hit by a car turning left, as he was crossing Brandon Avenue while cycling north along Osborne Street on his way to school on the morning of Nov. 5.

“This street is so out of control for traffic,” said Crystal Adams, Jakob’s mother. “The driver said she couldn’t see Jakob, but if she couldn’t see him, she shouldn’t have been proceeding.”

Adams said Jakob’s injuries included seven stitches, one cracked and one displaced tooth, and a concussion.

“I grew up in this area as a kid, I walked to and from school as a kid,” Adams said. “I wanted my kids to have that experience, as well. I’ve taught them how to do that safely, but unfortunately, the infrastructure is not set up safely for kids to do that.”

Among the dozens of cyclists, parents, and children gathered for the rush-hour demonstration, many held signs reading “Safety for All”, “Stop Hitting People”, and “Stop Hitting Kids with Cars”, among others.

Joe Curnow, a rally organizer, said cyclists and pedestrians are sick of putting their lives at risk just to get around.

“One thing I hear from parents again and again is you want to protect your kids, and the way the city is designed makes that impossible. We need safe infrastructure, we need regulations that help keep our kids safe,” Curnow said. “So many people in this neighbourhood know how dangerous this intersection is. But there are so many intersections like this.”

Elmwood resident Rodney Kennish, father of two young children, attended the rally for just that reason.

“What you do as a parent is you work through your life trying to make sure you have a safe world for your children,” he said. “One of the scariest things is the most likely (way) they’re going to be hurt or prematurely killed is by a driver of a vehicle. It’s always very scary. It could be your kid on their way to school. There are streets like this all over the city.”

Just like Osborne Street, which runs through the residential and commercial neighbourhoods of Osborne Village and South Osborne, Henderson Highway runs through the heart of Elmwood.

“We have a problem with high streets like Osborne, which is a beautiful street with restaurants, stores, amazing places to go to, but I wouldn’t want to walk there, because the cars are loud, fast, and dangerous and scary,” Kennish said.

“Henderson is the exact same thing.”

Libby, a 10-year-old who lives in the Louis Riel School Division, also attended the rally in support of Jakob, accompanied by her mother Anna Weier.

“Even though we don’t know Jakob, it’s important that no kid gets hurt,” Libby said. “We bike and walk a lot of places in our everyday lives. There are a lot of really bad streets in a lot of neighbourhoods. That’s not good. I think there should be safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure on all streets. I’m just really glad that so many people care about kids and everyone’s safety.”

“Kids should not get hit by cars,” Weier said. “We talk to a lot of our friends who also bike and walk and there are too many stories of close calls or people being hit by cars.”

“Or people even getting killed by cars!” Libby added.

Among the immediate actions those in attendance would like to see is a ban on right turns onto Osborne from Brandon, along with a left-turn signal. Many would also like to see residential speed limits reduced to 30 km/h across the city.

“There’s really only one way to make people safer, and that’s by making cars go slower. Everything else is secondary,” Kennish said. “When cars and vulnerable road users are in the same space, the only thing that is going to make them safer is having the vehicles go slower. I would like to see an acknowledgement of that.”

“We hope city hall is paying attention to the fact that Winnipeggers care and want safe infrastructure and that they give it to us,” Weier added.

A community meeting is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 30 at Riverview Community Centre (90 Ashland Ave.) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to discuss ways to make the city safer for children, pedestrians, and cyclists.