Discussions

Seems to me that 99% of the pedestrians using the crosswalk do not activate the crossing lights !  
Makes it kinda of exciting when the students just step into the street without missing a beat.  
Trouble for the car driver when someone finally gets hit

In Brandon the buttons are often not pushed. It's very frustrating as a driver. It is better to know there are people crossing the street well in advance. And in winter it's even worse if it's slippery.  
 
I assume these pedestrians not pushing the buttons don't drive. It's for their own safety.

Pedestrians or at least a minority think these are in a force field area.  
 
Please if there is lights press the buttons.  
 
And at very least look both ways.

Not sure about at B.U. but for some reason, they have taken out the button to push but left up the signage at some of the crosswalks. It looks like the button is there but it's just a bolt. Frustrating for drivers approaching, occasionally scary for pedestrians crossing.  
Please be kind to people walking. Especially in bad weather when you are in your dry and warm car.  
Crossing the street can be a frightening experience.  
And pedestrians, please pay attention and wait for the cars to stop.  
Nobody wins in an accident. Physically the pedestrian is hurt, mentally the driver has to deal with hitting someone.

Maybe instead of going forward with the rationale that one should only excercise caution at a crosswalk with lights lit, one should just excercise caution at all crosswalks, lit or not. This goes for pedestrians AND drivers. Seems like everyone's gotten themselves into such an all-fired hurry all the time lately.

Wouldn't it make sense for the city and/or University to put in a walkway that goes over 18th? I cannot believe that someone has not been killed at this crosswalk. And it would definitely get rid of the backlog on 18th; especially at specific times of the day. Why wait till someone is killed or severely injured.

It is not feasable to build . It would be 10s of millions of dollars and would tie up traffic for a year. Drivers just have to slow down and be observe to whats happening around them. And to keep of their phones.....

They built one on Grant Avenue in Winnipeg connecting the campus and residences of the Canadian Mennonite University a few years ago. But only after a girl was killed. Again, why wait? They can designate detours around the area: they do it all the time during construction zones. And as far as the cost: how much is a child's life worth?

I agree that they should be more proactive (why wait unil someone dies?), but that's also not a comparable situation. The CMU campus actually straddles both sides of Grant. I'll append a map below. So students are forced to cross Grant to attend, possibly multiple times a day.  
 
That isn't the situation at BU. The entirety of campus is west of 18th. A student can attend for a whole degree and never cross 18th St.  
 
Edit to add: Also, it was probably CMU that built it as part of their infrastructure, for the reason I stated above. While I'm sure they had help from the CoW and/or the province, they didn't rely on someone else to build it. BU has no motivation to build it, as it would connect to nothing that they are responsible for.  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2025-09-30 20:51:25

I forgot to add the map

That crosswalk is bad

There needs to be lights at this crosswalk it is very hard to see anyone crossing here at night.

Valid points. I drive by CMU frequently so I'm quite familiar with the area. I guess it is just too bad for the students if you live on the east side of 18th. I would like to believe that BU would take this project on - so that ALL students are safe.

That would help. I really like these new ones that are at eye level. The ones already in the city are all installed by CoB, but 18th St is provincial. They always seem to want to put in the big overhead lights, which are expensive and IMO not as good. The eye level ones can be put in cheap and dirty and are much more effective.

Posted by Abbysmum, 10/1/2025 1:37:51 PM  
 
CovidBuddy said "There needs to be lights at this crosswalk it is very hard to see anyone crossing here at night. "  
That would help. I really like these new ones that are at eye level. The ones already in the city are all installed by CoB, but 18th St is provincial. They always seem to want to put in the big overhead lights, which are expensive and IMO not as good. The eye level ones can be put in cheap and dirty and are much more effective.  
 
The new lights on Victoria at Fotheringham are very eye catching, lower with flashing lights

Oooo, you're right! I forgot about those ones!  
 
There's hope something like that will go up on 18th Street - Hooray!  
 
Talk to your MLA!