Another pedestrian death in Ottawa has residents calling for change

A stretch of Viewmount Drive cordoned off. Police and paramedics responding after a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and killed. Police did not release details about the victim, but the city councillor for the area says he spoke to family members at the scene last night. Sean Devine said he was told she was an older woman who was on the phone with a family member just before it happened. The son of this woman had been on the phone with his mother who was walking home saying let me come get you let me let me come drive you home and I think the mother was saying no no I'm fine I'm safe Thank you, Dave. and then lost contact with the mother and then tried to call back and the mother wasn't picking up the phone. While the investigation continues residents say this area has long been a concern. Some say they've noticed cars going 60 kilometers per hour instead of just 40, and residents say changes need to be made. The speed on that street is terrible, crazy, as if it was a highway. If this road wasn't like as wide, maybe if they added like a bike lane or something of some sort, then maybe it would have, maybe the speed would become a lot lower. Coming off of Saginaw, turning right. Onto Viewmount there is a hedge right at that corner and it is very very hard to see anybody on the sidewalk And it's hard to see cars coming so you have to pull out into the crosswalk in order to see what's going on. That's dangerous Councillor Devine says safety improvements are slated for next year on Viewmount Drive He now wishes the project could have come sooner. It'll entail speed bumps all along the road It'll involve at certain intersections The road will physically narrow so that drivers have to be slower as they go through an intersection. I just wish the timeline for when we decide let's do it to the time that we do it was shorter. But until then, Divine is urging drivers to slow down. So far this year, there have been 33 fatal road collisions in Ottawa, 12 of them involving pedestrians. Chuck Tinte, CBC News, Ottawa.