VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Five pedestrians have been killed in crashes over the last five weeks, and that’s just in Vancouver.

Insp. Les Yeo with Vancouver police says officers will be cracking down on people who aren’t following the rules of the road, whether they’re behind the wheel or on foot.

“We’ve all been watching the news and watching stories about how people have been struck by vehicles recently,” Yeo says.  “I have directed my officers to enhance enforcement around drivers and pedestrians at intersections and crosswalks.”

Earlier this week, eight pedestrians were hit in seven separate collisions that happened over a 24-hour period in the Lower Mainland.

The incidents sparked a discussion on what can be done to make roads safer in the region.

Dahianna Lopez is a PhD student in Health Policy at Harvard University who has worked on traffic safety projects in San Francisco and Boston.

“We try to get pedestrians to be safer and make better choices, however, we have to realize that human beings have a lot going on in their minds and they’re going to behave in a very predictable way,” Lopez says.  

“The person rushing off to work is probably going to speed in their car and the person who is rushing across the street to catch their bus is probably going to run across the street without waiting for the light.  When you separate bicycles from the roads where vehicles are driving, you have a decrease in crashes.  When you have pedestrian bridges, of course, you are going to have fewer pedestrians hit by cars.”

There have been 11 pedestrian deaths in Vancouver this year, including the hit and run crash that killed a 43-year-old mother of two earlier this week.

The husband of Leonida Jimenez Tumanda  is appealing for the driver to do the right thing and come forward. Nilo Tumanda says the hardest thing he ever had to do was tell his five-year-old daughter that her mom would never be coming home.

Yeo says he understands the driver may be scared or worried but it’s just a matter of time before forensics tell a story pointing to the person involved.

“Having been a policeman for more than 30 years, it’s never easy to inform a family that a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a collision,” Yeo says.  “It’s particularly tragic this time of year.”

Police will also be handing out reflective arm bands as part of an ongoing pedestrian safety awareness campaign.