Grab a brick: Pedestrians flock to Granville Island to try safety stunt

Pedestrian safety campaign turns heads Advocates in Vancouver are using foam bricks to raise awareness at a dangerous intersection. Here's how.

Pedestrians could be seen waving what looked like bricks Monday, as they crossed a busy street on Vancouver's Granville Island.

Signs posted on either side of the crosswalk instructed people on how to be seen by drivers: Grab a brick from the basket provided, look left and right, and then wave the brick in the air while walking across the street.

"We found that when you introduced something with sharper corners, suddenly you’ve got people worrying about their paint, you’ve got people worrying about their windshields," said Luke Bailey of Vision Zero Vancouver, with a grin on his face.

He was smiling because the concept was all part of an April Fools' Day prank dreamed up by the organization.

At the same time, they hope the joke will lead to some serious discussions about road safety.

“What we really need is to build our streets and intersections more safely so that people outside cars and inside cars are kept more safe,” said traffic safety advocate Lucy Maloney.

The playful mischief was hit with pedestrians, with many people flocking to Granville Island just to use the crosswalk and take photos of the foam bricks.

Others who didn’t realize it was a joke thought “it was a ridiculous idea” until they caught on.

Vision Zero Vancouver actually came up with the idea several months ago, but decided it made more sense put up the display around April Fools’ Day.