Pedestrian and cyclist safety in a world of smarter streets: what you should know

November 05, 2025, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

If you’ve been injured while walking or riding a bike, you’re focused on what happened, who is liable, and what you deserve in compensation. A recent Waterloo Region Record piece on road-safety technology and design highlights how smarter streets are changing risk—and that shift matters for personal injury claims in Ontario and beyond. Here’s what you should know in clear terms, and how it could affect your case.

Why design and technology matter for your claim

• The Safe System approach: The idea is simple but powerful—it accepts that human error is inevitable. Rather than blaming a single driver, it looks at whether street design, lighting, crosswalks, or signaling contributed to an injury. If a roadway is not reasonably safe for pedestrians and cyclists, liability can extend beyond a driver to the entities responsible for the street’s design, maintenance, and operation.
• Policy context matters: Ontario’s recent move to ban speed cameras sparks debate about enforcement tools that influence driver behavior. For a personal injury claim, the policy landscape can affect how a claim is evaluated—especially when it comes to speed, deterrence, and the role of design in preventing harm.
• Real-world safety gains from design and tech: Studies and pilots cited in the article show how a combination of design features and technology can reduce risk. These include raised crosswalks and curb extensions, as well as sensor-enabled lighting and automated signaling that respond to traffic and pedestrian presence.

Tech that’s changing evidence in injury claims

• Beacons and smart signals: Intersections equipped with flashing beacons can alert drivers to slow down when pedestrians are present, such as after school hours. Data from these devices can sometimes be accessed or inferred to show how a street functioned at the time of a crash.
• Near-miss data: Beyond crashes, near misses reveal persistent risks that crash data alone may miss. AI-enabled camera systems can monitor intersections continuously, tracking speeds, vehicle types, and traffic patterns to identify risky maneuvers that contributed to an injury.
• Data that informs design changes: When a near-miss signal a problem, planners can reconfigure signals or street geometry to reduce risk. In a pilot in Bellingham, Washington, identifying high-risk turns led to changes that improved bike-lane visibility and safety.
• Night-time risk and lighting: A large share of pedestrian fatalities occur at night in many places. Lighting improvements—especially when combined with sensors that collect traffic data—allow for targeted, data-driven enforcement and design adjustments. In practice, this means a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists, which can be a factor in liability analysis.

What this means for your injury claim

• Liability can involve more than a driver: A claim can consider municipal or responsible-entity liability for street design, maintenance, or signage if those factors contributed to the harm.
• Scene and environment matter: Photos or videos of the crosswalks, lighting, pedestrian facilities, and signage near the crash can support claims that the environment was unsafe. If available, data from nearby beacons, cameras, or smart signals can bolster your case.
• Data access isn’t always automatic: Some relevant information may be held by municipalities or private technology providers. A lawyer can help request, interpret, and ethically use this data in your claim.
• The evidence landscape is evolving: As more cities deploy smart infrastructure, there are growing opportunities to show how a roadway’s design and operation contributed to your injuries. This can strengthen causation arguments and support a fair compensation outcome.

What to do after a crash to protect your claim

• Seek medical care promptly: Your health is the priority, and early medical documentation helps connect injuries to the incident.
• Document the scene: If you can, take photos or notes about:
• The presence or absence of crosswalks, curb extensions, or protective features
• Lighting levels and visibility at the time of the incident
• Any safety features or warnings (signs, signals, beacons)
• Gather witness and evidence leads: Collect witness contact information and ask about nearby surveillance cameras (businesses, transit hubs, or public spaces). Keep records of any video or data you believe could relate to the crash.
• Talk to a lawyer early: An experienced personal injury attorney can assess whether design, maintenance, or safety technology played a role, help obtain relevant data, and build a claim that reflects the full environment of the crash.

The road ahead

Smart infrastructure and data-driven safety are expanding rapidly, with markets growing into the tens of billions and pilots spreading across cities worldwide. For clients, this means a broader evidentiary toolkit—beyond driver fault—to show how the built environment contributed to harm and what responsible parties should fix to prevent future injuries.

If you’ve been injured in Waterloo Region or elsewhere in Ontario, a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer can help you navigate these factors. They can guide you on collecting the right scene documentation, obtaining safety-data records where appropriate, and building a claim that reflects the full context of the crash—recognizing that safer streets also mean stronger, more persuasive cases for fair compensation. As always, this information is not legal advice. Consult a lawyer about the specifics of your situation.

About Deutschmann de Koning Law

Deutschmann de Koning Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann and Nick de Koning focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.ddinjurylaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.