Richmond crosswalk scares students

Richmond Kwantlen students who have had, or seen, close encounters with cars are unhappy with a crosswalk at the intersection of Garden City Road and Lansdowne Road, but the city’s traffic department has received few complaints or suggestions from residents.

At the intersection, which is half-a-block from Kwantlen, the pedestrian walk light and the left-turn light for traffic turning north onto Garden City Road, come on at the same. Two lanes of left-turning traffic approach pedestrians as they cross.

Students must cross the busy intersection to get to a bus stop. Frequently-used buses that stop there include the 301-Newton Exchance – which connects the Richmond campus to the Surrey campus – and the 407 Bridgeport bus.

Alexa Kulak, a first-year student at Kwantlen in general studies, considers this a dangerous crosswalk because the two lights come on at the same time.

“Another thing that adds to this problem is the speed limit on Garden City road,” she said. “It’s 60. People seem to think they can just drive at highway speeds and not look out for pedestrians.”

Many people are speeding through the intersection and have to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting pedestrians, she said. She uses this crosswalk when she gets off the 407 bus, and recalled a time when her mother nearly hit a pedestrian there.

Another student nearly was hit recently.

“A lady almost ran over me, she was in such a hurry. She stopped right in front of me and nearly hit me!” recalled a wide-eyed Kanwal Rashid, a science major at Kwantlen. She said there isn’t enough time for pedestrians to walk across and she finds it scary.

Amanda Punshon, a full-time student at Kwantlen taking general studies, said the crosswalk makes her uncomfortable, and she rides the 301 bus five days a week. “People don’t always stop for you. You have to kind of duck and dodge. It’s not fun.”

Nicky Forshaw, a student in the IDDS program at Kwantlen, takes the 301 bus every day during the week. She thinks that anything would be better than the current set up, suggesting a delay in the walk light.

The city is considering changing phasing so the pedestrian light doesn’t conflict with the left-turning signal. However, this could delay traffic and must be looked at carefully, said Victor Wei, the director of transportation for Richmond.

A remedy also being considered is increasing the size of the yield-to-pedestrian sign, which the city can do quite easily, Wei added.

Wei recognizes that the intersection is “challenging because you are having to walk straight into oncoming traffic.” But he says the city does not consider this a dangerous intersection.

The city does not receive many complaints regarding this intersection, but they are, “open-minded,” said Wei.

“If any of the users of this crosswalk, including the students from Kwantlen have any ideas of how to improve it, we are more than happy to hear them and consider them.”

He encourages students to contact Richmond’s traffic operation department with concerns and suggestions.