The City of New Westminster is reviewing whether any changes need to be made on Princess Street.
New Westminster police are in the early stages of investigating a fatal motor vehicle incident, in which a pedestrian was struck by the driver of a vehicle. It occurred in the 700 block of Princess Street around 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10.
Mayor Patrick Johnstone said the death has sparked a lot of concerns in the city. Because the incident is currently being investigated by police, he said the city can’t comment on the causative factors that resulted in the death.
“I do know residents have expressed a lot of concern in the city already to us,” he said at Monday night’s council meeting. “I know that, especially the community around Princess towers is really a tight community, a tight knit community, and they're grieving. So our thoughts are with them.”
Johnstone said engineering staff are already engaged in work to determine if there are engineering solutions to make Princess Street safer.
“It's a priority for council to make sure our roads, especially our vulnerable road users, are safe; that they feel safe and that they are safe, when you're walking on the streets in New West,” he said.
Johnstone said the city has “made strides” in its efforts to improve road safety, but incidents like the one on Princess Street are a reminder that more work needs to be done to be a Vision Zero community. (That’s a strategy aimed at eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.)
“So again, thoughts to the families and the friends of the victim, and we will be talking more about this in future meetings,” he said. “But it's still very raw and we don't have any answers right now.”
In a news release, the New Westminster Police Department said investigators from the Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service attended the scene, as did members of the New Westminster Police Department’s Major Crime Unit.
Anyone having relevant information about this case is asked to call the Major Crime Unit at 604-529-2430 or email [email protected].
