19 of the 50 most dangerous intersections for pedestrians in B.C. are located in Surrey
Official says B.C.’s 2nd-largest city by population is being ‘retrofit’ to accommodate pedestrians
The most recent data from B.C.'s provincial insurer shows that of the 50 intersections in the province with the most crashes involving pedestrians, 19 are located in Surrey, B.C.
Nearly 80 per cent of collisions involving pedestrians happen at intersections, according to the province. CBC News looked at Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) data from 2019 to 2023, the latest on record.
An overwhelming number of those intersections were in Surrey and Vancouver, which has long led the province for the most intersections with pedestrian crashes.
A transportation safety advocate says that it's incumbent on authorities to implement systemic changes to make pedestrians' lives safer.
With B.C.'s second-largest city by population continuing to experience high rates of population growth, Surrey's director of transportation says it needs to do more to prevent pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
"If you look at our town centres, they weren't really designed for people to be walking," Rafael Villarreal told CBC News.
"We're kind of working right now towards making sure that those town centres … are safe for people, and they're places where people can walk," he said. "And it's retrofitting a city."
CBC News analyzed ICBC data from 2019 to 2023 and found that many of the intersections with the most pedestrian crashes in Surrey were along the bustling 72 Avenue stretch, which features many busy malls.
However, the intersection with the most crashes involving pedestrians was at 104 Avenue and 152 Street in the Guildford neighbourhood, with 23 crashes between 2019 and 2023.
"We're dealing with large numbers, but also large extensions of land," Villarreal said. "That means a lot of roads, and that's what makes, also, [the] numbers kind of shine in the negative way."
He pointed out that Surrey has the biggest land mass in Metro Vancouver and says that officials have already rolled out improvements to seven intersections highlighted in the sample.
Villarreal says there are ongoing plans to improve four more intersections, and five to seven more intersections would be addressed when TransLink starts rolling out more rapid transit in the city.
"A lot of times we can do all the engineering in the world, and still some fatalities or … injuries are going to happen," he said.
"But our mission is to try to reduce it as much as we can within the constraints that we have."
Among the pedestrian improvements Villarreal cited were increased lighting along crosswalks and controlled left turns to separate drivers who are turning left from other cars and pedestrians. He says that over half of pedestrian-involved crashes happen on left turns.
He also highlighted the implementation of leading pedestrian interval (LPI) intersections, which give pedestrians a head start by switching the walk signal on a few seconds before the light goes green for drivers.
Call for systemic change
Jade Buchanan with the transportation safety group Vision Zero Vancouver says that pedestrian safety has been on a downturn since the pandemic.
He says that, on average, 100 people die in crashes in Metro Vancouver per year.
"What it does require is for us to collectively say … our lives are worth more than being able to gun it at every opportunity," he said.
"And for us to recognize that safety and being able to get around are not at odds with another. They're both mutually compatible goals."
Buchanan doesn't just want cities to act to stop traffic fatalities, but says the province and federal government should also act.
For instance, the advocate says the province should implement 30 km/h default speed limits in residential areas.
He also wants more automated speed enforcement at high-risk intersections, which he says is a very effective deterrent against speeding.
"What the data shows is that people will speed through it, get a ticket once and change their behaviour," he said.
The advocate says that in big cities like Vancouver, pedestrians tend to be the group of road users who are hurt or killed in road crashes — unlike the rest of B.C., where the car's occupants are the ones who are hurt more often.
Vancouver had the most intersections with pedestrian-involved crashes from 2019 to 2023, with 23 intersections in the top 50.
The intersection of Hastings and Main streets in the Downtown Eastside remained the most dangerous for pedestrians, with 49 crashes between 2019 and 2023 along the arterial stretch.
Winston Chou, the associate director of the traffic and data management branch for the City of Vancouver, says the city is working to reduce speed limits along its biggest streets.
Chou says those efforts were particularly critical in school zones or in other areas with vulnerable populations, like the Downtown Eastside.
"We're potentially going to be looking at additional markings … as well [as] trying to improve, you know, the crossing at that particular location," he said of Hastings and Main streets.
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