Pedestrian “scrambled” intersections are intersections controlled by traffic signals that provide a crossing phase for pedestrians only, permitting simultaneous crossing in all directions of the intersection including on the diagonals. In other words, when the pedestrian phase is activated, all vehicular traffic in both directions is stopped, and when the vehicular phases are activated, all pedestrian crossing is stopped. Some municipalities have delineated scrambled intersections using decorative asphalt surfacing systems in patterns that mark the lateral and the diagonal pathways, i.e., a large “X” inside a square box.

On August 17, 1896, Mrs. Bridgette Driscol of Croydon entered the history books as the first pedestrian fatality in the UK. Folklore holds that at the inquest into her death the Coroner, Mr. Morrison, said, “This must never happen again.” Mr. Morrison is also credited with being the first Coroner to apply the term “accident” to a death caused by a speeding vehicle. One hundred and eleven years later the number of reoccurrences of this type of “accident” has reached into the multi-millions. 

Fatal or nearly fatal accidents in the BC lower mainland, involving pedestrians or bicyclists, have been occurring almost weekly.

A recent statistics report in the Vancouver Sun, (Crashes with pedestrians are deadly), cites Burnaby Traffic Services as the source of the information that pedestrian-involved collisions are now the leading cause of injury and death arising from motor vehicle accidents in Burnaby. These statistics noted particularly the dramatic rise in 2004 in the pedestrian hospitalization rate from 38% to 50%. This appears to suggest that of all the people admitted to hospital for treatment of injuries caused by involvement in a motor vehicle accident, 50% were pedestrians.

Jaywalking is the word people use to describe crossing the street mid-block not in a marked crosswalk. The Motor Vehicle Act says that when a pedestrian is crossing a highway at a point not in a crosswalk, the pedestrian must yield the right of way to a vehicle. Not surprisingly, drivers still have a duty to avoid hitting jaywalking pedestrians. Because they have made a mistake does not give anyone the right to run them over.