One winter afternoon, a student and a friend were dropped off by a transit bus along a British Columbia highway. Traffic was heavy, and there was no controlled crossing for pedestrians nearby.
The teens walked in front of the bus and ran to cross the road. Witnesses said neither youth looked for oncoming traffic, and they could not be seen by a driver in a car that was passing the bus.
"The vehicle driving past the bus narrowly missed the first youth but tragically fatally struck the second," says a new report issued by the provincial coroners' service.
"The friend stated, 'I thought the transit bus was like a school bus and that vehicles would stop.'"
The case provides a tragic example of preventable child and youth traffic fatalities, the BC Coroners Service says in its report. After reviewing the deaths of 81 young pedestrians, skateboarders and cyclists between 2005 and 2014, it's calling for safer street design and better traffic-safety education.
Transportation Minister Todd Stone thanked the service for its "tremendous work" and says his office is reviewing the report with a fine-tooth comb.
"Anything and everything that we can do to enhance safety on our roads for all users, including pedestrians and cyclists, is something we're all very much focused on."
The report released Wednesday reveals a portrait of the young people who died on B.C.'s roads. It says 15 to 18-year-olds were most likely to die in these incidents, and 23 of 29 in that age range tested positive for alcohol or marijuana.
More than one-third of the 81 youth had involvement with the Children's Ministry within 12 months of their deaths, which the coroner's service says is consistent with research findings in other jurisdictions.
Seventeen per cent were identified as aboriginal, twice what would be expected based on the proportion of B.C. children who are aboriginal, which is eight per cent.
B.C.'s child and youth advocate Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says these young people might have experienced significant neglect, without adequate supervision or guidance about road safety.
They might be self-medicating through drugs and alcohol and engaging in risk-taking behaviour, she adds, or lack access to safe equipment like helmets.
"I'm hoping that the issues the coroner has identified, consistent with some of the work of my office as well, can inform public policy changes so we can reach and prevent future injuries to at-risk kids."
Turpel-Lafond says the Children's Ministry should ensure safety education for vulnerable young people, potentially through summer camps or recreational activities.
The ministry issued a statement Wednesday saying young people who come into contact with the child-welfare system tend to be more vulnerable and it is always striving to improve outcomes.
"One of the key ways we're doing that is through our focus on adoption and permanency — helping to ensure that young people have safe, stable homes and supportive adults they can rely on."
The coroner's service also found nearly half of the children aged one to four died in driveway incidents. The report cites a horrific example where a young child suddenly ran behind a parent's SUV as it was backing up.
"The child could not be seen as the height of the vehicle and a fence obstructed the driver's view," the report says. "The parent was not aware of the injuries until after the vehicle was stopped and had been exited."
The service makes a number of recommendations, including that B.C. approach road design with a focus on safety and increase traffic safety education for children and youth.
It calls for improvements to crosswalk safety, such as giving pedestrians at high-incident locations a head start of a few seconds before vehicle traffic is allowed to move in an intersection.
Stone says his ministry has launched an annual $30-million road safety program. Significant investments have been made to improve intersections and crosswalks, he added.
The report also calls for Transport Canada to enact regulations that require all new vehicles in Canada to have rear-facing technology to alert drivers to the presence of pedestrians when backing up.
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This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.