Sudbury police handing out $2 coffee cards to people spotted using a cross walks

Would you skip jaywalking for a shot at a free coffee?Police in Sudbury say you could earn a free coffee card by simply using a cross walk.

Greater Sudbury PoliceStaff Sergeant Rick Waugh saidinstead of finger wagging,police are trying to get creative aspart of a new pedestrian safety campaign.

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If an officer spots you making the effort to use a crosswalk this month, you could be handed a $2 Tim Hortons coffee card for your effort.

This, as Sudbury police wrestle with how to keep pedestrianssafe.

Waugh said 62 people were hit by vehicles in 2015. That'sdown from 71 vehicle and pedestrian collisionsthe year before.

Waugh saidlast year, officers laid charges against 14 drivers and five pedestrians but he saidit's hard to know what exactly happened in most cases.

"We have the story from the driver or the account of what happened, we have the account from the pedestrian, and we don't have any independent witnesses or video that could help us decipher or decide as to who is at fault here or who is responsible for this collision," he said.

Police are hoping that this positive reinforcement strategy for good road safety conduct will help to keep the accident numbers down.

This campaign runs for the month of January, and will be brought back in the latter part of theyear, when pedestrian and vehicle crashes in Sudbury are statistically more prevalent.

"You know one of the things we've kind oflearned is the effects of Daylight Savings Time," said Waugh of the trend. "When we looked at our stats, traditionally the months of October, November and December seem to be high numbers across the board for us."