Walking in Waterloo Region

[panamaniac]

It did sound to me like the point was that the driver was less than responsible: "...sure we can guess the driver wasn't paying attention - or we can remember that maybe there were 22 other things the driver was paying attention to at that exact moment..."

I hear you, though. The design of our streets should account for the fallibility of human beings. You shouldn't die because you made a mistake and crossed the street at the wrong time; you shouldn't be killed because someone else wasn't paying proper attention while driving.

It's bizarre to think that we have intersections in urban areas designed in such a way that they allow a turning motorist to achieve speed enough to run over someone. But most of our intersections are like this. They should be changed. In the mean time, drivers who don't pay attention, who disobey the rules, who don't exercise the duty of care commensurate with operating a vehicle, should be held accountable for putting other people's lives at risk.

I am at a loss to understand how this is related to the design of the intersection.  Although the media report is not explicit, it seems logical to infer that the motorist was turning on a red light (i.e from what was, or was supposed to be a full stop).  At what point do we simply admit that a significant minority of our motorists are simply not competent to be behind the wheel of a car?  Since nothing is likely to be done to address that underlying problem, perhaps the best course action is just to continue not to admit it.