3 recent N.B. pedestrian deaths highlight need for vigilance on roads

Police and a road-safety expert say the deaths of three pedestrians in the span of a single day this week serve as a tragic reminder to be cautious and follow road-safety rules.

Eric Hildebrand, a civil engineering professor at the University of New Brunswick with 40 years of experience in road safety, said pedestrian fatalities are relatively rare but this time of year requires extra awareness.

"With the accumulation of snowbanks on the side of the road, you know, any available shoulder space that's there for pedestrians tends to disappear," said Hildebrand. "So you know that, along with darkness … it becomes problematic.

"Unfortunately, it would be great to have sidewalks and wide shoulders and illumination everywhere, but it's just something that's not financially feasible."

On Dec. 2, there were three deaths related to pedestrian-vehicle collisions, according to the New Brunswick RCMP.

A 65-year-old woman from Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation on the Miramichi River was hit at around 5:10 a.m. on Nov. 29. She died Dec. 2 as a result of her injuries. 

RCMP say an investigation is underway and poor weather and road conditions are believed to be factors.

A 40-year-old woman from Notre-Dame, near Moncton, was struck by a vehicle on the shoulder of Route 115 around midday on Dec. 2.

And that evening, a vehicle travelling eastbound on Bells Mills Road struck a 34-year-old man from Richibucto-Village, who was travelling in the same direction, police say.

Reminders for pedestrians, drivers

Cpl. Hans Ouellette, spokesperson for the New Brunswick RCMP, said it's important for drivers to remember to watch closely at marked and unmarked crosswalks, where pedestrians have the right of way.

According to the Motor Vehicle Act, unmarked crosswalks exist at intersections without traffic signals, at the end of each block, where there is a sidewalk on each side. 

Ouellette said it's also crucial to avoid distractions such as cell phones and to drive according to the weather conditions.

Pedestrians can also take steps to be safe when walking on the roads, Ouellette said.

If there's a sidewalk, he said that is the safest place for a pedestrian. If there isn't one, as in many rural areas of the province, he said to walk against traffic — facing the oncoming cars — and wear light-coloured or reflective clothing.

"Some of our shoulders are very, you know, small here in the province, so just taking that extra precaution can really help keep our roads safe," said Ouellette. 

"I have seen it in my career as a police officer, people who are walking with very dark clothing in a very dark area. And as a pedestrian, you can see those vehicles very clearly — they have headlights, they're coming at you, so you see the vehicle — but the opposite is not true."

8 pedestrian, cyclist deaths in 2023

Hildebrand said he's been involved with a collision research team for over 30 years at UNB and his work shows that, historically, pedestrian and cyclist deaths in the province are relatively rare — limited to anywhere between six and 10 per year. 

And while he said it's always a concern to see three back-to-back deaths, as happened this week, there has been a steady downward trend in collisions over the past 25 years.

"We've seen reductions by about 50 per cent and 75 per cent relative to pedestrians and cyclists collisions, respectively," Hildebrand said. 

That came as a surprise to him, as he said the study's hypothesis predicted that with an increase in active transportation, those numbers would have gone up.

Ouellette said out of the 81 collisions recorded by RCMP in New Brunswick that resulted in a death in 2023, eight of those involved either a pedestrian or cyclist. 

And the year before that, he said that number was six. 

"It does show that, you know, unfortunately, pedestrians and cyclists are still very vulnerable on the side of the road," said Ouellette.

"Let's just take those extra few seconds, those extra few minutes, to ensure that we're safe as a pedestrian and we're safe as as a driver … and if we can all do a little bit of that, I think, you know, maybe we can really bring those numbers down.

"Because one death on our highways is one too many."