An 81-year-old woman suffered life-threatening injuries in a collision while crossing Albany Highway on a mobility scooter. Related Story A raised zebra crossing in the city center where the crash occurred. This tragic event underscores the continued need for improved safety measures to protect people walking. Local residents and experts have been mobilized by this alarming development. Along with this, they are calling for speed limits to be reduced near crossings to 30 kilometers per hour.
When the 64-year-old male driver hit an elderly woman—a pedestrian who was crossing in a marked crosswalk. He will next face Albany Magistrates Court on 9 October. This one unfortunate event has created fear among local communities, especially those who depend on mobility scooters to get around. Mx Milo Shrike, an Albany resident and member of the Disability Justice Collective, rides a mobility scooter. In particular, they expressed strong concerns about safety at road crossings.
Community Concerns Over Safety
Milo Shrike shines a light on the deadly gauntlet pedestrians must go through to cross road in Albany. He lamented how drivers seem to care not at all when pedestrians are trying to cross at marked crosswalks.
“If we’re a pedestrian, it’s the car that must give right of way, especially on a zebra crossing, and that’s the bit that we’re finding unsafe,” Mx Shrike stated.
For Milo, that would translate to feeling safe on his scooter only 30 percent of the time. He knows that the stakes are incredibly high. He elaborated on the challenges faced by pedestrians, noting that “even on the crossings that are designated for us, even when we do pause, there are people who will just go straight across, not slow down, and not even look sideways.”
Maxine Tuffley, the other concerned resident, brought her safety concerns to the City of Albany and Main Roads herself. She wanted to raise awareness about the dangers at crossings. We heard from advocates that the crossing where this incident happened actually met all current standards. This response has only increased community outrage and calls for a reexamination of safety measures.
A Call for Lower Speed Limits
In light of the recent crash and ongoing community concerns, the Albany council has officially proposed reducing speed limits near pedestrian crossings to 30 kilometers per hour. The new measure would increase safety for all vulnerable roadway users—including those relying on mobility scooters and other assistive devices.
Professor Teresa Senserrick, an expert in pedestrian safety, explained what they call inattentional blindness. She described how this phenomenon is a major cause of crashes at crossings. She described how this deadly phenomenon occurs when drivers are diverted from their primary task. Consequently, they almost always miss pedestrians in plain sight.
“There’s a phenomenon known as ‘inattentional blindness’, so it’s not intended, but while you are attending to other things in the environment, you miss other things that you should be looking at,” Senserrick explained.
She pointed out that pedestrian crossings demand an increased level of driver alertness. “Pedestrian crossings are one of those areas where we need to be particularly vigilant,” she added. Senserrick has witnessed numerous near misses at crossings, stating, “I have witnessed so many near misses on this crossing over the past few years that I have no doubt it’s only a matter of time and someone will be killed on it.”
The Need for Change
Every pedestrian death is preventable, local advocates and experts told us. The immediate action is to rob local pedestrian’s safety. Mx Shrike wants to know how you’re changing driver behavior to keep people from getting hit in the future.
“But it’s the spots where there’s a lack of an adequate path… or there are in fact drivers who do see us and they don’t care,” they remarked.
In some cases, residents are coming together to call for bottom line speed limits. They fully expect these changes to result in roads that are safer for all modes. As the community support continues to escalate, current accepted local practices will likely be challenged and tubed by local leaders who seek to protect our most vulnerable pedestrians.
