N.S. news: Advocate calls for government action on pedestrian safety [Video]

HALIFAX –

Halifax safety advocates are calling for government action to reduce the number of pedestrians injured or killed by cars, after the death of a senior who was hit while walking on a marked crosswalk earlier this week.

The city set a goal in 2018 to cut the number of pedestrians killed or injured in collisions by 20 per cent over five years, but data show that target wasn’t reached. As well, police are distributing significantly fewer tickets in recent years for speeding or distracted driving, the data show.

“Basically, we aren’t achieving the goals with respect to pedestrian injuries,” Norm Collins, who founded the Crosswalk Safety Society of Nova Scotia eight years ago, said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

On Monday, a 72-year-old man died in hospitalafter he was struck on a pedestrian crossing equipped with flashing amber lights shortly after 7 a.m. Police issued a summary offence ticket to a 30-year-old driver for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. The …