Renewed calls for improved roundabout safety measures

Two separate serious roundabout collisions involving pedestrian in Waterloo Region, just days apart, have renewed calls for improved safety measures.

On Wednesday, a man was struck by a minivan at the Manitou Drive and Bleams Road roundabout in Kitchener.

Police said the pedestrian was hit as the vehicle exited the roundabout.

On Thursday, police confirmed the pedestrian, 30-year-old man from Kitchener, had died.

"My heart just wrenched," Ed Marachlian told CTV News. "I stayed calm and tried to help him breathe, just to talk him down, just to comfort him, basically to say help is on the way."

The driver of the minivan, a 42-year-old Kitchener woman, was not hurt in the collision.

Last Friday, Siamak Samimi, 72, was walking through the Erb Street and Ira Needles Boulevard roundabout when he was struck by a vehicle.

His son, Farshid Samimi, said his father was taken to a Hamilton trauma centre but has since been transferred to Grand River Hospital in Kitchener.

"Left cheek bone is fractured, collar bone fracture, leg broken in multiple places, pelvis is fractured, but the one that has us really concerned is the traumatic brain injury," said Farshid.

Police have charged a 59-year-old Waterloo man with careless driving causing bodily harm in connection to the incident.

Farshid says he's glad to see charges laid, but more needs to be done about pedestrian safety at roundabouts.

"I hope something is done fast," said Farshid. "I don't wish this to happen to any other family. It's not a good feeling."

REGION TO REVIEW ROUNDABOUTS

Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe raised questions for regional staff at a Wednesday council meeting about the safety at the Erb Street West and Ira Needles Boulevard intersection.

“It’s an equity issue. It’s an access issue and it’s a safety issue,” McCabe told CTV in a virtual interview on Friday.

McCabe pushed regional staff to address what could be done to avoid similar situations.

“And I specifically asked them, ‘are there other things that we could be doing from either a design perspective, or with automated traffic enforcement,’” she said.

Regional staff say they're working on a full report to be released in March that looks at roundabout safety. The report will include a range of counter measures and the types of pilot projects that have been used for determining how safe a roundabout is.

STATISTICS FROM THE REGION

According to regional staff, the most recent stats are from the 2020 Collision Report where 25 roundabouts were assessed.

There were a total of 2,887 reported injury collisions at the 25 roundabouts, between 2016 and 2020, with 14 of those involving pedestrians.

During that same time period there were a total of 377 pedestrian collisions reported at traffic signals.