The City of Vancouver has passed a motion to work with police and the Vancouver School Board to identify the most dangerous pedestrian intersections in the city. This is a welome move move by the City: 318,000 walking trips are made every day, which account for 17 per cent of all trips. (It's not clear whether this number includes transit trips, which begin and end on foot.) This number is likely to grow as a result of land use change, support for transit, economic restructuring, an older population, and rising fuel costs.  

The Vancouver Province highlights the need for better data and action on the issue:

SFU Prof. Anthony Perl, who specializes in urban transportation, said Vancouver is the only place in Canada where numbers of downtown residents is increasing faster than numbers of cars, with the proliferation of large, new apartment buildings.

“Our system is designed to keep cars moving safely — pedestrians are a sideshow,” he said. “More people are walking, but nothing has been done to expand the space. Pedestrians have to jaywalk or step off the sidewalk in an unsafe manner.

“Burrard and Robson is chaos at 5 p.m., with people walking back to the West End."

Perl suggests making some roads pedestrian-only, such as Robson Street between Burrard and B.C. Place Stadium.

The City is planning to have all trips in the city be walking, transit or cycling by 2020 -- a number that I hope becomes more ambitious.

Staff will report back to Council in the spring of 2011 with specific recommendations for improving pedestrian safety and accessibility