Speeding through school zones is an ongoing and madening traffic issue in Toronto, Canada. Every year the police, accompanied by children stop speeders near their schools, but it seems nothing changes. Everyone agrees that speeding through a school zone in very dangerous for kids, but drivers are too self absorbed and arrogant to change their behaviour. Preventable.ca is running a small test in West Vancouver where they adhere a sticker of a child on the road. From far away the sticker looks like a little girl fetching a ball. This is to remind drivers in a school zone to pay attention to the road in order to keep kids safe. It is a small test, but well worth trying. I think preventable.ca for their effort in improving road safety for children in BC, but hope that they will also reach out to Toronto.

I often cannot believe how selfish people can become once they get into a car. This is particularly so when people speed through a school zone. The excuses of “I did not see her” are inexcusable when young lives are at stake. As far as I can see, no educational method has worked that will slow down drivers. Preventable.ca has come up with an innovative method that should be tried to determine its effectiveness. Sure there are always improvements one can make in an experiment, but I am surprised at the negativity I see on their site as well as in other newspapers.

To be clear, this is not a child on the road, only a sticker that creates an optical illusion of a child. No children were harmed in this experiment. The stickers were placed in a school zone, where they can remind errant drivers to slow down. The sticker seems lifelike from the photos, and should jar drivers out of their robotic stupor of autopilot, and therefore inattentional blindness, difficult to do but necessary if we value the safety of our children.

Negative feedback abounds, so I will attempt a rebuttal.

• Q: These illusions may surprise drivers, who will slam on the brakes, and lose concentration of their surroundings. Drivers may swerve, causing a possible crash.
  A: These stickers are posted in a school zone, which is max 30kph in BC and 40kph in Ontario. Drivers should be going very slowly, paying attention to their surroundings and expecting children. If a driver is surprised by the image, they are not paying sufficient attention to their driving or they are driving much too quickly. At 40kph this image will appear slowly and it will be readily evident that this is not a real child.

• Q: These stickers will condition drivers to run over children.
  A: I think you give drivers too little credit. In all cases drivers should not take any image for granted and therefore should slow down and be prepared to stop for kids, image or not. If you are traveling through a school zone at the proper speed then this will not be an issue. If desensitization becomes an issue, when the stickers wear out they should be removed. Stickers should then be placed in a different school zone.

• Q: Putting the child image further down the road near a crosswalk may lead to running the crosswalk and potentially hurting those that are crossing.
  A: While this may be true, when we drive we see and deal with much environmental stimulus on a daily basis. A crosswalk and a child crossing the road nearby is a very realistic scenario and should not “overstimulate” a driver. If the driver is going at the proper speed limit, through a school zone, the driver should expect children at the crosswalk as well as trying to cross the road not at a crosswalk. In all cases the driver should be aware of their surroundings and drive safely. This will not be an issue at 40kph.

• Q: Once drivers recognize the image the benefits will be negligible.
  A: This is possibly true but is also an acknowledgment that the campaign has worked. The image and their locations can be changed.

No doubt that many of the above concerns are valid if the driver is not expecting kids in the vicinity and the driver is driving at much higher rates of speed. This is not true in a school zone, where the speed limit is 40kph and kids are in the vicinity. While further study and monitoring of this experiment is required, overall I like the intent of these stickers. They have the potential to bring school zone safety into the news and educate drivers. With this campaign and rigorous police enforcement we can all hope that the safety in school zones will markedly increase.

This girl is a sticker on the road, but if you inadvertently run over her you were not paying attention to your driving. Pay more attention to the road.

Robert Dziekanski holds a small table at the Vancouver Airport in this image from video. He was then killed by the RCMP.

It comes as no surprise that the four RCMP officers that repeatedly tasered Polish visitor Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver Airport, Canada over two years ago were deemed negligent in oh so many ways. Unprepared, uncoordinated, tried to cover up and lied to a Canadian Royal Commission. At least the Commission came to the same conclusion of most other people who watched the video: The RCMP was clearly out of control.

I had a much better view of the RCMP and had thought that they would act much more humanely than the Toronto Police Force, but this case clearly shows I am wrong. The Canadian people can only hope that the RCMP change and change quickly.

This group of officers attacked Robert Dziekanski without a coordinated plan, with no warning to him, and without any attempt at deescalation of the tense situation. They then got together in order to coordinate their statements and collectively lied to the commission under oath. “Inconsistent testimony” is the more politically correct term used.

While the four may not be charged with this visitor’s death, I hope that their careers with the RCMP and any other police force in the world is quickly ended. That’s the least they should get for getting away with murder. They were negligent in duty and irresponsible in their actions. How did anyone allow these four the ability to carry a dangerous weapon like a taser and use it as they sought fit, which was clearly irresponsibly.

Here in Canada we treat animals for slaughter better than how the RCMP treated Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International. This is shameful to the people of Canada. Could this same situation and result occur again at another Canadian airport?

Note: The Braidwood Inquiry has completed, and as expected, the RCMP should not have tasered Robert Dziekanski. Not only that, the officers lied to cover their mistakes.

A public inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver Airport has found that the officer who fired the Taser five times at the unarmed man was not justified in using the weapon.

Murder by the police should not happen anywhere, much less my home country. These four officers will likely not get charged. If we could only turn back the hands of time and bring Robert back, but this is impossible. Canada prides itself on multiculturalism, but it failed Robert. New country, first and long airline flight, not knowing English, all these could be overcome with care and concern for a fellow human’s well being. This was not done by the RCMP and casts a dark shadow on all Canadians.

Robert Dziekanski did not deserve to die a violent death by the RCMP

___Here is the intro from today’s Globe and Mail:

A bulletproof vest, handgun, baton and pepper spray were not enough to quell the fear RCMP Constable Kwesi Millington says he felt when confronted by Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski during a fatal October 2007 incident at Vancouver airport.

If you have not watched the video, please do, so you can decide on your own whether police action was warranted.

___What immediately strikes me as odd was the violent response of the RCMP. This is in stark contrast to Mr. Dziekanski’s relative calm nature to those around him. Just minutes before he is close to a lady who tries to help him. He does not hurt her. Two security guards are also within 3 feet of him and he also does not hurt them. Further, when he picks up a table and tries to throw it at a glass wall, when people raise their voices in protest, he puts the table down. From these observations I would say that Mr. Dziekanski, while agitated, is not displaying violent actions. I can sympathize with him, after taking a 24 hr flight from his homeland, not being able to find his mother, and not being able to communicate in English.

___One should also note that the Vancouver International Airport is the gateway to Asia. It is so much more international than, say the Toronto International Airport. When I was there I saw and heard more Chinese than English. Announcements were done in 4 languages: English, French, Chinese and Japanese. If you work in this airport you should expect that many people here will not speak English. In fact it is common at most airports to have translators at airports, or at least a phone call away. This is common practice here in Canada.

Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, Vancouver Airport, Oct 2007

___There are comments from people in the video that Mr. Dziekanski only spoke Russian. That very well might be, but as someone who has learned 3 foreign languages, there are more ways to communicate than through a spoken language. In fact many tourists, myself included, travel to different parts of the world who do not know the local language and despite this they sight see, eat, find lodging and have a good time. A lack of a common spoken language is not a barrier to basic communication, and should not be used as an excuse to hurt or kill someone.

___I’ve tried to put myself in the position of the 4 RCMP officers, and still cannot understand their actions. I believe their actions to be blatantly aggressive and violent against what appears to be a non violent and unarmed person. Here are four highly trained Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, all with bulletproof vests, guns, batons and pepper spray, against one unarmed Polish imigrant. I see an overwhelming display of force by the RCMP. The RCMP, I thought, represented the top tier of police in Canada. What if they all jumped on him at once, football style? Surely with their combined weight and physical training they would overpower him.

Robert Dziekanski in younger days

___Instead, Mr. Dziekanski is shot 5 times with a taser, then jumped on, only to subsequently die from his treatment. The inquiry into his death continues this week with the testimony of the RCMP officers involved. No officers will be tried for his death. With overwhelming video evidence I cannot understand nor accept this.

___I see a blatant lack of justice in this case. While I read the officers’ testimony I see they sharply contrast with video evidence. With their training and equipment, these four officers were afraid of a guy brandishing a stapler? Here in Toronto there was a standoff on a TTC bus between an unarmed psychiatric patient and the Toronto Police. Eventually the Toronto Police calmed him down and escorted him off the bus. No harm came to anyone. Why did this polish immigrant not have the same care and consideration?

___It is clear that the four RCMP officers were incompetent, they completely mishandled the case, their training was flawed or insufficient, or a combination of the above. It is clear that these four officers are not fit to put on their uniform. This is not how I feel we should be greeting newly landed immigrants to our lovely country. Canada’s top RCMP officer should apologize to Mr. Dziekanski’s mother and to the people of Poland, and the four officers should be charged with manslaughter. Their badge should not shield them from their violent actions.

___While we point the finger at countries such as China and the US for human rights violations, as Canadians we should also look at cases such as Mr. Dziekanski and acknowledge that we, too, need to improve ourselves. Sadly Mr. Dziekanski will not be able to see our progress. Mr. Dziekanski, welcome to Canada.

Links:
- Taser Inquiry: Could Mounties be charged after all?
- Taser’s Delirium Defense
- Braidwood Inquiry
- B.C. minister hints Mounties could face charges in Taser death
-Perjury charges recommended against Mounties in Dziekanski death