'This would make a lot of sense': City councillor believes 'pedestrian scramble' could help solve safety issues at busy intersections

By summer 2024, Vancouver could see 'pedestrian scramble' intersections throughout the city.

"We definitely have high pedestrian volumes downtown where this would make a lot of sense," said councillor Peter Meiszner, who helped bring forward the motion.

The concept allows pedestrians to walk across the intersection in all directions, including diagonal, while cars from all directions are stopped. The design is common in large cities including London and Tokyo.

Richmond's Steveston neighbourhood implemented its own 'pedestrian scramble' a decade ago. A city official told CTV News it’s proving successful on many levels.

"It is not within the top 50 accident locations in Richmond, so clearly it is not a safety hazard," said Clay Adams, Director of Corporate Communications & Marketing for the City of Richmond.

One researcher from Simon Fraser University believes the intersection innovation could help address serious road safety issues for pedestrians.

"Every year in Vancouver there's about 10 people who are killed while walking our streets, and about 160 people who are seriously injured," said SFU Health Sciences professor Meghan Winters.

Winters tells CTV News that the change has little downside, with a low cost burden for taxpayers.

"This is the kind of intervention that we need to put into place on a broad scale, and pretty quickly."

"In Downtown Vancouver we have tons of pedestrians out," said Meiszner. "They outnumber cars, so we need to do what we can to prioritize some movement around the city."

Meiszner says the city's traffic engineers are working to assess the impact the scramble would have on traffic flow.

Council is now seeking feedback from the public on which intersections could benefit from the change. A city staff report on the project is expected to be complete by fall.