[3 min read]

In the month since Peter Clark’s death, there has been an outpouring of grief across our city. Schools and communities are mourning. They are angry. So are we.

Crossing guards are part of daily life in Ottawa—trusted to help children get to and from school safely. 

On March 26, 19-year-old Xzander Wright was charged in Clark’s death after fleeing the scene. But accountability does not end with Wright. It extends to every level of government that has failed to prevent a tragedy we know how to stop.

At the federal level, there are still no meaningful regulations addressing the growing size and dangerously poor forward visibility of large trucks and SUVs. These vehicles, such as the one Wright was driving, are increasingly common on our streets—and they are more likely to seriously injure or kill, especially in places like school zones.

Then there’s the government of Ontario, who have deliberately made school zones less safe with the removal of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE). A disabled ASE camera sat just 1.5 km from where Peter Clark was killed. Meanwhile, speeding in school zones is rising across the city.

Municipally, Ottawa city council passed a budget that defunds traffic calming projects after 2026. Councillor Hill, who called for such traffic calming measures in his ward after a child was struck by a driver of a SUV, was among the 21 councillors who voted for this budget. A budget that contains an unserious road safety strategy with outdated plans and no certain capital funding. A council that finds the political will to fund a $500M stadium renovation can surely move to a Vision Zero road safety strategy, that has at its principle that our roads should be designed and regulated so that no injury or death is acceptable.

The tragedy of Peter Clark was therefore not an accident, it was predictable and preventable. Those who govern our road systems will lament the tragedy, they fiddle on the edges with awareness campaigns, but that doesn’t slow drivers and it doesn’t redesign streets. 

In the last month we have learned nothing, we are asking children and crossing guards to be courageous in the crosswalk—because our leaders have not been courageous in office. If we want to prevent another tragedy, then tell your councillor to fund road safety, your MPP to reinstate speed cameras, and your MP to regulate oversized vehicles.

Submitted by Chris Hircock

Chris Hircock is a marine systems engineer and a founding member of Vision Zero Ottawa. He wanted to walk his kid to school, an experience so fraught, that he spends his spare time at city hall telling our leaders that people should expect not to be injured making such a trip.