One cause of pedestrian-vehicle incidents in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – It’s a fairly simple driving tip – watch out for pedestrians. Yet ICBC and the Kamloops RCMP were at the transit exchange Tuesday morning to hand out safety reflectors, board transit buses and tell pedestrians to look, listen and be seen by motorists.

Cpl. Cheryl Bush, spokesperson for the Kamloops RCMP, said pedestrian safety extends beyond common sense. She said visibility remains an issue and pedestrian injuries increase around this time of year.

“We see our statistics skyrocket from September through the winter months,” she said.

Cpl. Brian O’Callaghan said in his experience with the detachment’s traffic unit, most instances show the driver causing the incident rather than a jaywalker.

“Generally it’s the motorist that doesn’t see (the pedestrian) in the crosswalk,” O’Callaghan said.

Nearly 100 pedestrian-related incident reports have been filed in the last two years. O’Callaghan said through 2012 there were 55 reported incidents. That same year, Valerie Brook died after she was hit by Donald Isadore’s pickup truck.

In 2013, 47 incidents were reported with one fatality. The first half of 2014 has had seven incidents so far from April to the end of September. Two men were struck Monday night – the night before their safety event.

To combat injury, pedestrians are advised to make eye-contact with drivers when crossing the road, wear bright reflective clothing and focus on surroundings by removing headphones or keeping eyes off the phone.

The following map includes pedestrian collisions in Kamloops dating back to April 2012. Links to InfoNews stories are included on most of the pins:

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To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca or call 250-319-7494. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724