‘It’s time to declare a state of emergency’: Anger, calls for change follow deaths on Toronto streets
Thestar.com
June 13, 2018
David Rider
A surge in cyclists and pedestrians dying on Toronto streets is triggering demands that Mayor John Tory, city council and the Ontario government act now to stop the carnage.
“I am calling for a state of emergency, which means treating this crisis as a high priority and investing in immediate measures to create a safe environment for vulnerable road users,” Jennifer Keesmaat, Toronto’s former chief planner, now a University of Toronto lecturer, told the Star Wednesday.
“The SARS crisis took 44 lives in Canada. Ninety-three pedestrians or cyclists have died on the streets of Toronto since Vision Zero was implemented two years ago. The time for half-measures is over -- and the half measures are not working, anyway.”
Jessica Spieker, who suffered a broken spine and brain injury when a car hit her bike in 2015, said council is “horribly failing” implementing Vision Zero -- a plan to reduce traffic deaths to zero by 2021 -- when more, not fewer, people are dying.
“The impact is literally life and death -- people are dying horribly violent, bloody brutal deaths unnecessarily because it seems we lack the political will to implement solutions,’ said Spieker, a member of advocacy group Friends and Families for Safe Streets.
“It’s pretty clear we have leadership that doesn’t really mind sacrificing pedestrian and cyclist lives to make sure our streets are convenient for people who drive cars.”
Read more on pedestrian road safety in Toronto
Richard Florida, a renowned University of Toronto cities expert who immigrated from the U.S. a decade ago, called efforts by Tory, his council allies and the provincial government to protect vulnerable road users “shockingly neglectful.”
“The way in which Americans discount gun deaths, Torontonians and their leaders seem to discount car-related deaths -- like there’s nothing we can do about it,” he said.
By the Star’s count there were 41 pedestrian deaths in 2017, and 18 so far this year.
Toronto police traffic fatality figures are lower because they do not include those on private property or 400-series highways in Toronto, which are the jurisdiction of the Ontario Provincial Police. The official police tally for 2017 was 36, and the force says 17 pedestrians have died in 2018.
For the same reason, the Star’s count of cyclist deaths is also higher than Toronto police figures. The Star has counted four cyclist deaths this year, police have counted three, excluding the March 20 death of a cyclist who hit a parked car in North York.
Neither tally includes victims of homicide, such as those killed in the Yonge St. van rampage.
A 58-year-old woman was killed Tuesday while riding in a protected Bloor St. bike lane when she collided with a turning flatbed truck at Bloor St., W. and St. George St. Officers on Tuesday also announced a 36-year-old cyclist hit May 15 on Lake Shore Boul. W. died from his injuries last week.
And police have asked the public for help finding a hit-and-run driver who killed a female pedestrian at Briar Hill Ave. and Dufferin St. on Monday at 3 p.m.
Tory and his public works chair Coun. Jaye Robinson are touting steps including new bike lanes and establishing “safety zones” around all elementary schools, which double fines and open the door to photo radar in those zones, if Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government gives approval.
Critics want immediate changes including speed limits dropped to 30 km-h across Toronto, tougher penalties for killer motorists, more and better protected bike lanes, roads redesigned to slow rather than speed traffic, and more, better marked pedestrian crossings.
After an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Tory said he is losing sleep over the deaths.
“Of all the things that gives me sleepless nights and has me needing us to do more is people dying on the streets,” he said, noting that some changes, such as reconfiguring roads, take time, but others can and are being be done now, including “watch your speed” signs in school zones and photo radar.
“Frankly, quite a few of them wouldn’t be happening if I hadn’t taken the leadership to ask the province to change laws to allow us to do these things,” Tory said, adding others need to take responsibility, too. “Cyclists have to take more care too as do pedestrians, but the principle onus for change must rest on drivers ... to change their own behaviour.”
A Tory tweet that his thoughts are with the Bloor St. cyclist and her family was met with online scorn, with some noting the mayor fought the temporarily shelved “Transform Yonge” plan to reduce vehicle lanes on north Yonge St. and install protected bike lanes. Tory and his council allies rejected reducing space for cars, arguing the bike lanes should go on a side street.
Coun. Joe Cressy said he and colleague Mike Layton are working on short-term and permanent changes to make the Bloor St. protected bike lanes safer. He said council has focused on “easy fixes” when it could have been redesigning streets to make people move safely, not quicker.
The recently defeated Ontario Liberal government has also been scolded for lack of action. It passed the Safer School Zones Act last year to allow cities to use measures like photo radar within safety zones but failed to fully enact it.
To automatically increase penalties against drivers that injure or kill pedestrians or cyclists, road safety advocates for years have pushed the province to adopt the Protecting Vulnerable Road Users Act. They have yet to be successful.
“The province snubs its nose at the request,” said Patrick Brown, lawyer and advocate behind the charge.
Re-elected NDP MPP Catherine Fife reintroduced the bill in April, and said it is one of the first items she will move forward when the Legislature is recalled.
“Every MPP should understand we’re at a crisis in terms of cycling and pedestrian safety,” she said.
Safety advocates expressed fear the new PC government will do nothing to protect pedestrians and cyclists, or obstruct Toronto efforts to do so, given party leader Doug Ford’s past statements about such measures being a “war on the car.”
Jeff Silverstein, a Ford spokesman, said Wednesday: “Our focus right now is on transition but moving forward we will take a close look at this and review all options that would make our streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
The carnage in the GTA, wasn’t restricted to Toronto. A 47-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a vehicle in Markham on Tuesday afternoon.
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The Star asked experts and activists what should be done to reduce pedestrian and cyclist deaths.
Patrick Brown, lawyer and safety advocate
- Declare all streets in Toronto community safety zones, lower speed limits and double penalties
- Pass the Protecting Vulnerable Road Users Act
- Restrict vehicles in highly dense areas based on weight and size
Jennifer Keesmaat, former Toronto chief planner
- Reduce speed limits to 30 km-h on most city streets and enforce them. Why do we still have 40 km-h zones around schools? Cars should be crawling in these areas -- children should be the priority.
- For pedestrians, aggressive “zebra” striping at every intersection across the city. Paint establishes a clear crossing point and visually disrupts the roadway, so that it does “feel” like a highway.
- Enact comprehensive, safe bike networks like those created in Vancouver, New York City and Montreal. We have been too hesitant and incremental in our approach.
Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute
- Reduce speed limits on city streets dramatically.
- Put cameras everywhere to target egregious speeding. “I’m willing to give up my privacy to catch speeders.” Reducing speed dramatically increases the chances of a struck person surviving.
- More and better protected bike lanes.
Graham Larkin, executive director of Vision Zero Canada
- Lower speed limits, “the mere act of posting a lower speed limit will lead to a reduction in road violence.”
- Design out the conflict on roads with protective infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.
