The creation of homeless persons is a societal decision not a choice that homeless persons make of their own free will. Governments in Canada have continually reduced social services to the lower classes resulting in many persons being unable to be housed. When the Ontario provincial government also decided to close mental hospitals this sent many mentally ill persons onto its streets – to fend for themselves. In the Province of Ontario it was the Conservative government of Mike Harris that convinced the voting public in the 1990s it was “common sense” to create these disadvantaged persons. The “Common Sense Revolution” was the Harris platform and most voters swallowed it because it would cost the province less money. Harris also dumped many Provincial costs onto the backs of municipal governments who had no choice but to transfer those costs onto ordinary property owners. With the increase in the population of the poor, the homeless and the unsupported mentally ill the popular sentiment is the blame those underclasses for the destruction visible in local neighborhoods.
Road safety is not immune to these societal trends. While safer vehicles are built and roadways include modern design, these creations are reliant on persons using them in the intended manner. Designers have difficulty understanding that their enhancements are of little use when persons are incapable of using them properly.
As many persons fall to being uneducated they also fail to understand the benefits of a modern transportation system. At times persons may fall to drug addiction making it very difficult to protect them when roaming urban roadways. And the same applies to those with mental illnesses.
The choice that Canadians have made is to model our cities and society around that of the United States. In the past 100 years the U.S. has continued to ignore the presence of uncounted poor and homeless persons living on their urban streets. That ignorance has been difficult to ignore as vast portions of large cities in the U.S. contain “war zones” within their city centres and outskirts. Over the years similar “progress” has taken place in Canadian cities. Many mentally ill persons cannot function in urban traffic and neither can those addicted to various drugs. By providing a minimum support that houses these persons many road safety problems can be reduced. The cost of hospitalization of an injured person is high and society must pay that price. And when a person becomes permanently disabled through injury society must pay a high price, over many years, to maintain that disabled person. Injury prevention by supporting the homeless, addicted and mentally may appear to be expensive in the minds of many, yet it is an overall benefit to society.
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