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Cops Launch Big Crackdown On Drivers & Pedestrians

2007/03/19 | CityNews.ca Staff

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Cops Launch Big Crackdown On Drivers & Pedestrians

Speeding tickets.

Parking tickets.

Moving violations.

You can't blame Toronto drivers if they sometime think police are ganging up on them.

But now those behind the wheel will be happy to hear cops are putting a different foot down - this time on pedestrians.

Toronto's finest have announced a one week campaign called "Operation Safe Journey" which will not only drop the hammer on bad drivers but bad pedestrians as well.

It's easy to blame drivers when people get hit and sometimes they are at fault.

Last year there were 57 traffic deaths in the city, and at least 30 of those were pedestrians.

Which leads authorities to surmise this blame isn't a one way street.

Jaywalking, dashing across red lights to catch a bus and stepping out carelessly at crosswalks as if daring a vehicle to hit them are all contributing to the carnage.

But this time, cops will be ticketing them if they don't obey the law.

Most walking the streets don't seem to care.

"I always jaywalk," one boldly states as she rushes across the road.  

Does she ever worry about getting hit by a car?

"No," she shrugs nonchalantly.

Where does the law stand on this? It turns out you can legally jaywalk if you're not impeding traffic. But once you do, it becomes a crime punishable by a fine.

And what will you have to pay if you get stopped? 

A whopping $8.75.

That amount just makes most pedestrians chuckle.

But police point out that while the penalty is laughable, the consequences aren't.

Many of those killed last year were guilty of crossing the street in the worst possible place and at the worst possible time.

Their crime didn't cost them $8.75. It cost them their lives.

Police know you're probably going to do it anyway, so they have this advice - always make eye contract with the driver as you're going across a busy city street. And remember Elmer the Safety Elephant's old rule about looking both ways before do.

You can never assume a car is going to stop. Because all too often, they don't.

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