City of Toronto to study safety measures for bike trail in wake of child’s death
“The blame goes on the city’s infrastructure,” says Jared Kolb of Cycle Toronto after a 5-year-old boy falls into traffic while using bike path next to busy roadway.

TheStar.com
May 25, 2017
Fakiha Baig

The city of Toronto will look into safety measures for the Martin Goodman trail following the tragic death of 5-year-old boy who fell into traffic from a bike trail next to Lake Shore Blvd. W., Wednesday night.

“Earlier today I spoke with senior staff in the parks and transportation departments, who oversee the Martin Goodman trail, and they’ve agreed to urgently look into what safety measures we can put in along that most narrow portion of the trail,” said Councillor Gord Perks, the representative for the Parkdale-High Park area.

“At this point I’ve asked them to cast the net wide (for possible solutions) and give me their best advice for what we can do so that no other little children lose their lives,” he said.

One cycling advocate said a simple guard rail could have saved him.

“This was a devastating incident,” said Jared Kolb of Cycle Toronto, a not-for-profit advocacy group that educates Torontonians on a safer cycling culture.

“I don’t put blame on the driver, the parent, or whoever was with the child,” Kolb said. “The blame goes on the city’s infrastructure.”

Police received the call around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday after a young boy riding west on the Martin Goodman bike trail, on the south side of Lake Shore Blvd. W, fell on the roadway and was hit by a car.

Paramedics rushed the boy to the Hospital for Sick Children, where he died of his injuries.

Toronto police Const. Clint Stibbe said the 29-year-old driver of a 2013 Toyota Camry remained on the scene and the investigation is ongoing.

“Alcohol is not a factor of the collision, but the speed the driver was travelling at is being investigated,” said Stibbe.

With a speed limit of 60 kilometres per hour, Lakeshore Blvd. W is a critical artery in the city that runs along a majority of the waterfront.

According to Stibbe, there is no barrier between the path and the highway, but the path in that area is “not closer (to the roadway) than any other bike paths” in the city.

According to Kolb, the lack of a barrier is the problem.

“The city’s adopted a Vision Zero plan that has not done its job and not prevented life-changing incidents,” said Kolb. “We need a systematic overturn of how we design bike trails next to highways.

Vision Zero is an international movement aimed at completely eliminating traffic deaths. So far in 2017 there have been 13 pedestrian or cyclist fatalities in Toronto. In 2016 there were 45 pedestrian fatalities.

“I’ve ridden on that trail. It’s for anyone riding, walking, rollerblading, skateboarding, all adjacent to a highway. This incident was just a matter of time.”

However, according to one safety advocate, the city needs to be less reactive, and more proactive.

“Here in Toronto, we react to deaths,” said Kasia Bribgmann-Samson, the co-founder of Friends & Families for Safe Streets. Bribgmann-Samson’s husband was killed in a hit-and-run while he was cycling in 2012.

“After a death happens, we react. We maybe go in and change the infrastructure, put in a safety camera or something like that. We need to look at it every time we make changes on a street, or that there is new roadwork being done — we need to put safety into the design. I remember when something like this happened in my family, the only thing that I see that would have prevented it from happening is better infrastructure and safer design,” she said.

According to Kolb, the city should also consider putting up jersey barriers for a quick fix and, in the longer term, they should launch a study that looks at various high speed motorways that can benefit from barriers.

“All these incidents are preventable. The little boy did not have to die. A barrier could have prevented the accident from happening,” said Bribgmann-Samson.