Grab a brick: Pedestrians flock to Granville Island to try safety stunt
Pedestrians could be seen waving what looked like bricks Monday, as they crossed a busy street on Vancouver's Granville Island.
Signs posted on either side of the crosswalk instructed people on how to be seen by drivers: Grab a brick from the basket provided, look left and right, and then wave the brick in the air while walking across the street.
"We found that when you introduced something with sharper corners, suddenly you’ve got people worrying about their paint, you’ve got people worrying about their windshields," said Luke Bailey of Vision Zero Vancouver, with a grin on his face.
He was smiling because the concept was all part of an April Fools' Day prank dreamed up by the organization.
At the same time, they hope the joke will lead to some serious discussions about road safety.
“What we really need is to build our streets and intersections more safely so that people outside cars and inside cars are kept more safe,” said traffic safety advocate Lucy Maloney.
The playful mischief was hit with pedestrians, with many people flocking to Granville Island just to use the crosswalk and take photos of the foam bricks.
Others who didn’t realize it was a joke thought “it was a ridiculous idea” until they caught on.
Vision Zero Vancouver actually came up with the idea several months ago, but decided it made more sense put up the display around April Fools’ Day.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.
What's causing the catastrophic rainfall in Kenya?
The torrential rains and deadly floods that have hit Kenya since March have been some of the worst in the country in recent years. Here's how factors combined to create the deadly deluge.