Richmond RCMP in social media storm over pedestrian safety video

Richmond, B.C. -

A post by Richmond RCMP on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has garnered more traction than any post in the detachment's social media history.

"Normally, that would be a good thing," said Cpl. Dennis Hwang.

The post includes a pedestrian safety video and has more than five million interactions — with most of the replies from people critical of the video. 

"Typically, the fall season is the season when the most pedestrian fatalities occur in Richmond," said Hwang.

In the dramatized video, posted Friday, a hooded pedestrian listening to music through earbuds approaches a crosswalk and pushes the button at the pedestrian controlled crossing.

At the same time, an approaching driver is distracted by a ringing cell phone which he looks at and reaches for.

The driver doesn't see the pedestrian in the crosswalk until the last minute, but manages to stop safely.

The video ends with on screen text that says "Pedestrian safety is a two-way street."

Road safety advocates have taken exception to the video, which they say blames the pedestrian for nearly getting hit in the marked crosswalk with flashing lights.

"I was pretty appalled," said Lucy Maloney of Vision Zero Vancouver. "She's doing nothing illegal. Whereas, we can see the driver is doing something illegal and very, very dangerous, which is looking at their phone."

Richmond RCMP say the intent of the video was not to cast blame, but to remind pedestrians of the unfortunate reality that drivers are not always paying attention.

In a tragic coincidence, a woman was hit and killed by a vehicle in Richmond near the intersection of Granville Avenue and Gilbert Road just a few hours after the video was posted.

Richmond RCMP say it happened at about 6 a.m. on Saturday.

They have not identified the victim and say the driver remained at the scene and is co-operating with the investigation.

According to ICBC, an average of 2,346 pedestrians are injured and 53 killed in traffic collisions each year in British Columbia.

Even Premier David Eby weighed in on the social media controversy, saying he understood the intent of the video even if it could have been better executed.

"I do think that the video probably misses the mark in that the pedestrian is crossing at a crosswalk and following the law and the driver is looking at his cellphone, and there's sort of an equivalency there in the video," Eby said.

Despite the blowback, Richmond RCMP have left the video up on their social media channels.

"It shows an example of what can happen in a situation and that situation can quickly snowball out of control," said Hwang. "It is not laying blame on one party or the other. It's just showing a situation that can happen."