Pedestrians urged to take responsibility
Posted Dec 7, 2011 7:29 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Distracted walking could be to blame for two serious accidents involving CTrains and pedestrians in as many days.
A young man is in hospital with a head injury, after being dragged by a train along 7th Avenue S.W. around 5:00 p.m. Tuesday.
Witnesses report he was wearing headphones.
Monday, a 49-year-old woman was killed when she was struck near the Whitehorn LRT station in the northeast.
One of Canada’s leading injury prevention experts says pedestrians need to take greater responsibility for their actions.
Dr. Louis Francescutti says navigating city streets is likely the most dangerous thing most people do each and every day.
Francescutti says cell phones and MP3 players make people oblivious to their surroundings and they end up being distracted, putting themselves at risk.
He recommends people eliminate the distractions in their life and focus on the job at hand: getting safely from home to work and back.
One of the first tweets Wednesday from Calgary Transit reads: Good morning tweeting commuters. Have a great day and please be careful! Thanks.
