A video posted online shows a dangerous encounter between a person trying to cross the street and vehicles turning left in front of them despite the pedestrian having the right of way.
The video, posted to Reddit on Saturday, was shot at the intersection of East 12th Avenue and Clark Drive.
As the pedestrian waits to cross East 12th northbound, several vehicles taking advantage of an advanced left turn arrow on Clark pass in front of them.
But then, the pedestrian signal changes, giving the pedestrian the right of way. Several more cars continue to make the left turn in front of them before the pedestrian eventually tentatively steps into the street, forcing a white Mercedes sedan to stop.
Despite the pedestrian having the right of way, the driver of the Mercedes honks at them.
"The Vancouver left-hand turn, I think is maybe a meme. It happens all the time," said Sara Bynoe, who curates a blog highlighting dangerous encounters between pedestrians and drivers in Vancouver. "Our traffic is maxed out. There isn't enough time for left turns so pedestrians are getting angry, cars making a left turn are getting angry."
According to the latest stats from ICBC, over the last five years an average of 36 pedestrians have been killed in crashes every year in the Lower Mainland. Another 2,000 are injured annually.
As a pedestrian, Bynoe has had a number of close calls with vehicles and that's what inspired her to start documenting them and encouraging others to share their experiences as well.
"It just seemed to be so frequent and I felt like I was taking crazy pills. It was like, am I the only one that sees this? This is impacting my life daily," she said. "And it turns out that there's lots of other people that feel the same way."
