Glenn Kubish

An 83-year-old woman was killed while walking in a crosswalk in west Edmonton last week. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a couple of curious streeters in a first online  Edmonton Journal story.  Streeters, in the reporting industry parlance, are quotes from people who don't know what they're talking about. Okay, that's the critics' view. But the truth is the critics are often the very same reporters assigned to get streeters to fill out their stories with quotes that can add colour and personality—and length—to their news accounts. Streeters can be entertaining and they can be informative and they can be startlingly out of context.  Startlingly happened in the account of the woman's death. Here was the first reported fact in the story:  An additional fact came next. The woman was not in the wrong place, according to police. After the officials were interviewed for the facts known at the time, ...

The intersection at 97 St and 132 Ave is big. If vehicles with the advance light don't stop advancing, they eat into the time that walking citizens have in the crosswalk. This is routinely dangerous. Date : Edmonton, July 2, 2016 Encounter :  I am looking back at the intersection to see three pedestrians waiting for the walk light to indicate they have the right of way. Your VisionZero question: How many vehicles don't stop advancing, forcing the pedestrians to dutifully wait, decreasing the already short time they have under cover of the walk signal? As always, no wagering please. Here is your answer: To my untrained eye, three vehicles move from outside the crosswalk to inside the crosswalk while the pedestrian signal shows walk. The east-to-west moving pedestrians are forced to wait, meaning they don't get even halfway across the intersection before the flashing hand appears, Forced is the word. Enough of this might is right. Thanks, as alway...

Date : Edmonton, June 21, 2016 Encounter : I am approaching the pedestrian-triggered crosswalk lights on 103 Ave at 124 St. A pedestrian looking to cross east to west hits the light and starts crossing. Your VisionZero Quiz Question : The citizen hits the light, but does this driver in the SUV stop? As always, no wagering, please. And here is your answer: Thanks for playing along.

It is horrible—when you actually stop to think about it—that someone dies crossing the road in this city. This is where an 81-year-old woman was killed On Thursday, an 81-year-old woman was hit and run over by a man driving a pickup at 111 Avenue and Groat Road. She is dead. She died the death of a rag doll, according to witnesses. And it then all settled into a kind of routine. The outrage was routine. The descriptions of what happened were routine. The close-call accounts of others were routine. The conventional media reporting was so routine. The routine, now so familiar, is part of the horrible. And the Oilers lost a close one in overtime. So far this young year, there have been two people killed by people driving automobiles in Edmonton. In none of the accounts that I have seen was there a mention that Edmonton has formally declared itself a Vision Zero city. Vision Zero commits municipalities to the goal of zero fatalities and zero major injuries on roadways. Edmon...