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“The cost to society to ignore it is high,” said Stacey. “If you compare that to spending a little bit of money up front, it could pay huge dividends if this works.”

Later this month, the city’s standing policy committee on transportation and transit will review an updated draft of Calgary’s new pedestrian strategy.

Step Forward makes about 50 recommendations to make communities more walkable, reduce pedestrian collisions, lower speed limits to 40 km/h on residential streets, install more flashing lights at crosswalks and build mid-block crossings in busy areas.

The strategy would require $15 million in capital spending and $2.5 million in annual operating funds — money policy-makers and police say is worth the investment.

It’s unclear how many of the collisions in 2015 were on city streets as CPS tally and release all reported crashes, including those on private property such as parking lots. City officials will parse out collisions on public property and release their findings this spring.

Between 2005 and 2014, city data shows there were 3,834 pedestrian-involved collisions, resulting in 3,317 injuries and 95 fatalities, an average of one person being hit by a vehicle each day.

Coun. Shane Keating, chair of the transportation and transit committee, said the city will never eliminate pedestrian collisions or fatalities, but should invest in capital improvements, such as better lighting at crosswalks, and to “keep educating” pedestrians and drivers to reduce crashes.

“You often get those hardline camps, pedestrians who believe pedestrians should have the right of way absolutely everywhere, and then you have the drivers who believe they should never have to slow down,” Keating said. “The vast majority of people are not in that mindset.

“The vast majority (think) let’s do what’s reasonably affordable and accessible to reduce these collisions.”

thowell@postmedia.com