Earlier this week, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a charter bus at the intersection of West Georgia and Cardero streets.
In response to the tragedy, many Vancouverites took to social media to share their concerns about the crossing with some reporting that they have contacted the City of Vancouver multiple times over the so-called 'bad intersection.'
According to ICBC, there were 65,000 crashes at intersections in the Lower Mainland last year alone. And on average, 34 people die in collisions at intersections each year (based on data since 2017) though that number doesn't differentiate between pedestrians and drivers.
Specifically, 980 collisions occurred in the Lower Mainland involving pedestrians - the lowest number since 2017 - however, the number of 2021 pedestrian deaths is not yet available. Using the ICBC interactive crash map, the intersection at West Georgia, Cardero and West Pender streets was the site of 27 crashes in 2021 involving casualties, 63 crashes in total.
City of Vancouver and pedestrian-focused improvements for the 'complex intersection'
In an emailed statement to V.I.A, the City of Vancouver's Traffic and Data Management team explains that "this is a complex intersection with generally heavy volumes during peak periods."
They state that "the angle at which Pender intersects with Georgia creates a long crossing for pedestrians. Staff have looked at this over the years to enhance pedestrian crossing conditions and a number of changes have been made including increasing walk times for pedestrians and signage. Staff have also considered longer-term plans for the intersection but those would require significant geometric construction to realign the Pender approach."
After the recent pedestrian fatality, the City indicates it will be reaching out to VPD to see if there are "any further changes or improvements we can make at the intersection."
Constable Steve Addison of the Vancouver Police Department tells V.I.A that the early results of their investigation suggest that the design of the intersection wasn't a major contributing factor in this collision, adding "however we still have more work to do and have not drawn any conclusions."
VPD only attends serious collisions involving injury or those that result in major traffic delays. Addison clarifies that "most other collisions, like minor fender benders, are resolved between drivers and ICBC without police involvement" so any incidents at this particular intersection are not necessarily known to police.
What are the worst intersections in Vancouver?
But given the ICBC numbers, the West Georgia intersection isn't the worst in the Lower Mainland, or even in Vancouver. Each year ICBC releases the top 10 worst intersections and the only one in Vancouver that made the list was the area between Boundary Road, Grandview Highway, and the Grandview Highway onramp which had 184 incidents last year.
The worst intersection in the region overall was 264 Street and Trans Canada Highway in Langley with 217 incidents.
