A pre-spring break assessment of pedestrian and driver behaviour in Winnipeg shows there’s still a lot of work to be done to improve safety, Winnipeg police and CAA said Monday morning outside Grant Park High School.

Officers and CAA staff observed drivers and pedestrians at five lit crosswalks across the city on Tuesday March 13 for an hour and a half and found more than half of all interactions between the two groups of road users involved traffic violations.

Of 600 pedestrian crossings, there were 359 violations but not all were driving issues. In some cases, pedestrians were observed crossing in an unsafe manner.

One hundred and nine motorists were observed driving forward while a pedestrian was crossing, 88 motorists didn’t stop for activated lights and 77 stopped within the crosswalk.

Thirty pedestrians were described as being distracted while crossing which includes talking on cell phones. Twenty-two failed to activate the lights and 19 jaywalked.

No tickets were issued for any of the violations, police said. The assessment only involved observing behaviours.

“Pedestrians of all ages are some of the most vulnerable road users,” said Insp. Gord Spado with the Winnipeg Police Service Traffic Division. “Every year in Winnipeg a large percentage of our serious collision investigations involve pedestrians.”

Spado said he’s supportive of new provincial legislation which calls for roadside suspensions for drivers using a hand-held cellphone.

“I kind of compare it to seatbelts. It took a long time to change that culture of wearing your seatbelt. I think it’s the same thing now. We have a cellphone culture that everybody wants instant access all the time and we need to change that,” said Spado. “This type of legislation in my mind is an attempt to accelerate that cultural change.”

In one case, police officers and CAA staff saw the driver of an SUV stopped in the middle of the crosswalk at Pembina Highway and Adamar Road drive forward and hit a pedestrian with their bumper.

“It was a lot of traffic congestion in the afternoon and there was actually a car that had to stop in the middle of the crosswalk,” said CAA Manitoba government and community relations manager Liz Kulyk. “The crosswalk was then lit while the car was stopped in the crosswalk and the pedestrian probably shouldn’t have but continued through when there was a car in the crosswalk. The driver proceeded forward when there was space in front of them and actually made contact with the pedestrian.”

“Everybody was okay but it just illustrated how dangerous it is when cars aren’t proactively watching to see pedestrians coming to cross the street and pedestrians also aren’t being a lot more defensive rather than just hitting the button and walking.”

Kulyk said both motorists and pedestrians have a role to play in making roads safer.

“We’re really trying not to focus on ‘drivers are doing this wrong and they’re making everybody unsafe,’” said Kulyk. “The message we want to send today is everybody has a responsibility whether you’re walking, you’re riding a bike, you’re getting off the bus or you’re driving a car.”