By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Nanaimo RCMP adding brightness to your day

Nov 3, 2017 | 6:02 PM

NANAIMO — RCMP hope to add some life-saving brightness to the dark winter skies.

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, Nanaimo police will hand out reflective strips downtown at the intersection of Commerical St. and Victoria Cres. from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in an effort to curb pedestrian accidents this year.

“All you need is one piece of reflective material, either on your back pack or arm and that could save your life,” RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW.

O’Brien both the walker and the driver have a responsibility to not get into an accident, but unfortunately police find many pedestrians aren’t making it easy.

“What we’re seeing is many people who are walking aren’t wearing reflective clothing and tragically we’re seeing people struck in crosswalks. Unfortunately…pedestrians are often totally lost in space with their ear buds in now and we’re dealing with the phenomena of them being engrossed in their phones while they’re walking.”

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O’Brien said statistics show crashes involving someone inside a crosswalk drastically increase from October to December as people get used to darker days.

The cold is also an issue.

“With one snowfall or a little bit of ice or frost, the stopping time increases for vehicles,” O’Brien said. “So they may see the pedestrian but they won’t be able to stop in time.”

Nanaimo RCMP have partnered with both the City of Nanaimo and ICBC for this initiative.

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