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Collision: Pedestrian+car BankSt+AylmerAve @15:39hrs Paramedics treated M14 for minor leg injuries. Stable condition #ottnews — Ottawa Paramedic Svc (@OttawaParamedic) December 18, 2014

It wasn’t the first incident at that intersection. There was an accident this past June and another back in January 2013. Nothing has been fixed. The danger of that intersection has been accepted by the city. Despite any protestations from our civic leaders, the decision has been made. The city — we, the city — do not care about the safety of our residents.

That stretch of Bank is a nasty one. The intersection is at the southern foot of the four-lane Bank Street Bridge, with its wide lanes to encourage speeding, and its narrow, poorly maintained sidewalks that are insufficient for the pedestrian traffic they receive.

The bridge itself is too dangerous for multi-modal use. Drivers regularly ignore the signs imploring them to stay behind cyclists. The city cynically relies on “sharrows”—painted insignia that tell you little more than the danger the street poses to its users. Sharrows are as much safety infrastructure as an ADT sticker on your front door is a security system.

There are other token safety measures to which city planners and leaders can gesture. The speed limit on Bank Street has been reduced to 40 km/hr. But you wouldn’t know that from the traffic. Cars still regularly zip by at 50, 60, 70 km/hr or more. Without enforcement and proper infrastructure, a speed limit sign will do nothing to impede a two-tonne death machine racing down the street.

There are numerous measures the city should take to make that stretch of Bank Street safer. The street should be two lanes. It should have wider sidewalks and a cycletrack to act as a buffer between pedestrians and cars. It should have raised crosswalks or intersections (this would also alleviate the massive puddles that accumulate in crosswalks during the winter). Essentially, the street should be designed to protect the most vulnerable users, rather than treating them as an inconvenience.