Tecumseh Road is the deadliest street in Windsor for cyclists and pedestrians

If you''re getting around Windsor on a bike or on foot, new data shows Tecumseh Road — from west to east — is the most deadly.

From 2018 to 2023, eight of 20 fatal crashes involving a pedestrian or cyclist in the city have been along Tecumseh Road. 

The trend defies ward boundaries or neighbourhoods.

And while it's one of the busiest roads in the city, advocates say it does show us the need to take road safety more seriously across the map. 

"When you have that data and you see that there is one particular road that seems to be where a larger number or a larger concentration of those collisions is happening ... obviously that tells us something and we need to listen to that," said Anneke Smit, director of the Centre for Cities at the University of Windsor's faculty of law. 

CBC News obtained the data through a freedom of information request to the Windsor Police Service. 

Between January 2018 and June 2023, eight of 20 fatal pedestrian crashes in Windsor took place on or at intersections along Tecumseh Road. Another took place just two blocks away from it. 

Over the same time frame, there weren't similar groupings of crashes elsewhere in the city. 

So many of the city's crashes could be along Tecumseh Road because of the number of businesses, residential homes, and major institutions — churches and one hospital — that are along the road, Smit said. 

"It's not a huge surprise in some ways when you think about what's happening on Tecumseh Road: It is a very fast and very wide through road. It's an important east-west connector for vehicles." 

"But there's a ton of life on those streets as well."

Of the eight crashes on Tecumseh Road, one involved a cyclist.

Lori Newton, executive director of Bike Windsor-Essex, believes that's because cyclists try to avoid the road. 

"It has been built to prioritize car drivers, and it is an uncomfortable, at best, space for people riding bicycles or walking," Newton said.