The city of Ottawa has pulled a jaywalking advertisement 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.

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.”

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."

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  • Smk
    51·
    1 year ago

    IMO, driver need to be careful. Pedestrian should always be prioritized. This ads is meant to say that if you cross anywhere, cars will kill. This almost feel like it’s legitimizing cars for running over pedestrians. I know that’s not what they wanted but that’s how it feels. IMO, pedestrian should be allowed to cross the street whenever they want.