Ottawa removing graphic jaywalking ad due to 'jaywalking terminology', staff say

The city of Ottawa has pulled jaywalking advertisements from its test ads for an upcoming road safety campaign this fall, after councillors and the public criticized the graphic nature of the ad and its messaging.

One of the ads featured an image of a bloodied pedestrian lying on the ground, with the caption, "You jaywalked to save time. But you lost it. Forever. Cross only where it is safe."

• IN PICTURES: Controversial city of Ottawa road safety ads

Several councillors called on the city of Ottawa to remove the ad immediately, with Coun. Sean Devine expressing concern with "the ad and the messaging it conveys."

Coun. Ariel Troster also asked staff to pull "this terrible ad" immediately.

"Road violence is caused by driver negligence or bad street design. Blaming pedestrians for crossing the street wrong is offensive," Troster said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Speaking to CTV News Ottawa on Monday, Troster said the ad was misleading and problematic.

"We know that so many of our intersections are so dangerous, so until we fix that and we slow down our roads and do things like ban right turn on reds, until we have more balanced and complete streets, it's really unfair to place the onus on pedestrians who are the most vulnerable road users in our city," she said.

"I do think the idea that road safety is a totally shared responsibility is a little out of date."

On Sunday, the head of Ottawa's Public Works Department said the test ads focusing on pedestrians have been pulled, "given the concerns with the use of the 'jaywalking terminology.'"

"The intent of the road safety campaign that is being developed is trying a different approach to get the message across and is not to lay blame on any one party or individual. It is a recognition that all users have a shared responsibility if we are to achieve reductions in fatalities and major injuries on our roadways," Alain Gonthier said in a memo to council.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

"As referenced in my earlier memo, part of the evaluation of the test ads is to investigate how to resolve seeing only the vulnerable road user behaviour and ensure that we portray the full picture of road safety."

Gonthier says the city will reassess the ads on Monday to see if "sufficient data has been collected on the other test ads to inform the development of the road safety campaign."

Four advertisements focusing on pedestrians were among 18 test ads the city of Ottawa launched last week in advance of an official road safety campaign in the fall.

One of the city of Ottawa's public safety ads focusing on pedestrians. It ends with the message, "Cross only where it's safe." (City of Ottawa/release)

In a memo to council on Saturday, Gonthier defended the pedestrian ads, saying it was part of a behavioural change campaign focusing on the behaviours of all road users.

"We acknowledge the graphic nature of the visuals," Gonthier said.

"The evidence-based strategy and approach this campaign is using has been developed based on the city’s collisions data on fatalities and serious injuries. The ultimate goal is to reduce this number to zero.

"We believe this approach will depict the serious nature of road safety and lead to a greater awareness to all road users of their responsibilities, which will contribute to our goal of saving lives."

Gonthier said while the "initial reaction is focused on the pedestrian jaywalking," there are similar pedestrian injury test ads that speak to driver behaviour.

"We realize that seeing only the pedestrian behaviour seems unfair or an incomplete picture. Likewise, there are ads with cyclist injuries speaking to driver and or to cyclist behaviour, as the data supports."

Statistics provided by Gonthier show 25 per cent of all fatal and major injury collisions on Ottawa's roads involve pedestrians. The memo provided data on collisions between 2017 and 2021 on Ottawa roads:

• 29 per cent of fatal and major injury collisions involving a pedestrian occurred when a pedestrian was crossing a road midblock (away from an intersection)
• 23 per cent of fatal and major injury collisions involving a pedestrian occurred when a pedestrian with the right-of-way was struck at an intersection by a left turning driver
• 11 per cent of fatal and major injury collisions involving a pedestrian occurred when a pedestrian who did not have the right-of-way was struck by a vehicle travelling straight through an intersection

Jamie Kwong, executive director of the Ottawa Safety Council, told CTV News Ottawa on Wednesday that she was shocked to see the ads at first.

"The ads completely surprised me. This is very out of character for the city of Ottawa to have such communication," she said.

But she believes they are effective.

"If the message is about targeting the community to talk about road safety, it has effectively done that because now it’s put it on the radar for everybody," she said. "In some cities they have done this kind of shocking advertising to seem to get people talking about the severity of road collisions and road safety and everyone’s responsibility."

Kwong said while the images might be shocking, having it happen in real life is much worse.

"Road safety is multi pronged. You need the city to design roads that are safer so we can all use it better, but we also need everyone to jump on board and be more responsible road users, as a pedestrian, as a motorist, as a cyclist. We need to be wearing reflective equipment, we need to have lights on our bikes; as a motorist you have to exercise more patience, put away your distractions, obey the speed limit—especially slowing down by school zones."

Ottawa's Road Safety Action Plan aims to reduce fatal and major injury collisions by 20 per cent by 2024, with a longer-term goal of zero fatal and major injury collisions.

The last Ottawa road safety report, published in 2020, shows 27 pedestrians were killed in collisions between 2016 and 2020. Fifty-six drivers, 17 vehicle passengers, 20 motorcyclists and 10 cyclists were killed over the same period.

Fourteen of the 18 ads released by the city focus on driver behaviour.

• IN PICTURES: Controversial city of Ottawa road safety ads

One ad targeting drivers showed a bloodied pedestrian lying on the smashed windshield of the car, with the caption: "You drove impaired this one time. But you killed mine. Don't drive under the influence."

Another ad encouraging drivers to watch out for cyclists shows a bloodied cyclist lying on the ground with their bike next to a vehicle and the caption: "I love my cycling time. But you killed it. Forever. Check your blind spots."

The city of Ottawa launched a new social media test ad campaign focusing on driver, pedestrian and cyclist behaviours and safety. (City of Ottawa/Facebook)

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Tyler Fleming.