Pedestrian corridors which contain overhead flashing lights above a crosswalk currently have a major safety deficiency ­­– they lack eye-level flashing lights such as those found at railway crossings.  This decreases the visibility of the lights for all drivers but especially for those that are already very close to the corridor when the pedestrian activates the lights and those that are moving at slow speeds.  In recent years, there have been six fatalities in pedestrian corridors two of which involved children.  Each time a child has died, the city engineers have recommended eye-level lights to be installed but there has not been a wider deployment even though the deficiency is universal.

While most of the fatalities are recent, the issue is not.  Advocacy for eye-level lights dates back to 2012 and their absence was recognized as a problem by the city’s own traffic signals engineer in 2013.  A study done by the city in 2016 also confirmed that safety can be improved with eye-level lights but instead of deploying more of them, the only set already installed was removed.  Since then, there have been multiple deaths, the release of a 2020 report exposing the problem with detailed coverage by CBC, and most recently in February 2022, more coverage by the Winnipeg Free Press.

Other jurisdictions in Canada such as Toronto do not have this problem as eye-level lights were installed 10+ years ago but in Winnipeg, only about 15% of pedestrian corridors have these lights with most installed only in the last two years following the CBC coverage.  The Free Press aptly called the problem "A Decade of Deadly Delay" speaking to the need for citizen intervention.

This petition is for Winnipeg's mayor to immediately order the installation of eye-level lights at the 85% of Winnipeg’s 184 pedestrian corridors that still lack them.  It is also to the Manitoba Minister of Transportation to make them a legally required component in the provincial regulations for all pedestrian corridors ensuring uniformity and installation on a province-wide basis.