Toronto council to debate pedestrian safety
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 | 10:14 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
An ambulance at the scene of one of Toronto's many recent pedestrian fatalities. (CBC) After eight pedestrian deaths in two weeks Toronto city council is set to take up the issue.
Council will spend much of Wednesday debating what it can do to make Toronto streets safer.
On Monday evening a woman was killed crossing the street in the west end and a man who had been hit by a streetcar on the weekend died of his injuries.
Those deaths brought the total of pedestrian deaths in Toronto since Jan. 12 to eight. A further six pedestrians have been killed in other municipalities making up the Greater Toronto Area in that time.
Coun. Bill Saundercook, who heads the city's pedestrian committee, said Tuesday there is not one reason for the deaths - there have been different factors in every accident.
Saundercook's motion will ask all councillors to submit a list of what he calls problem streets in their wards - especially when it comes to speed.
"Our general manager of transportation will be required to report back on the streets that we suggest speed reductions for," he said.
Saundercook doesn't envision a "blanket" speed reduction. Instead he suggests "specific streets we know can be targetted because of a high volume of pedestrians - either children or seniors. It might be a park or a school, a busy commercial district. Those are the reasons we're going to ask the general manager to reduce speeds."
There are suggestions that could mean speed reductions from 60 to 50 km/h in some areas.
Saundercook also wants to explore banning turns at some city intersections, building better crosswalks and making traffic signs more visible.
Share Tools
Latest Toronto News Headlines
- Truck dangles on overpass after 401 crash in Ajax
- A section of Highway 401 is closed for hours after a tractor-trailer collides with an SUV, slides off the highway and hangs perilously over the roadway below. more »
- GO Transit train damaged by debris on tracks
- A GO Transit train is damaged after striking a short track section that appears to have been deliberately laid over the rails. more »
- Everest team unable to bring down Toronto woman's body
- Bad weather has hampered the recovery team that is attempting to bring down the body of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest. more »
- Man shot dead in Oshawa
- A man in is mid-30s is dead after he was shot at a house in Oshawa on Friday night. more »
Top News Headlines
- Teen struck by lightning in Ottawa dies
- The victim of a Friday lightning strike during a storm in east Ottawa has died, CBC News has learned. more »
- Montreal protesters march in peaceful defiance
- The clanging of pots and pans sounded throughout Montreal's downtown core Saturday night and into early Sunday morning, as thousands of protesters marched on in peaceful — but loud — defiance of Bill 78. more »
- Outrage grows over Syria killings
- The deaths in Syria of over 90 people, including at least 32 children, has sparked international outrage and raised fears that the international peace plan is in tatters. more »
- Missing Winnipeg children found in Mexico
- Two Winnipeg children reported missing and possibly in Mexico have been found alive, according to unofficial reports from an agency that works to find missing people. more »
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- Truck dangles on overpass after 401 crash in Ajax
- Brampton family seeks woman missing since Thursday
- GO Transit train damaged by debris on tracks
- 'Save me' last words of Mount Everest climber
- Timmins fire crews aided by calmer winds
- Everest team unable to bring down Toronto woman's body
- Man shot dead in Oshawa
- Serial carjacker gets life term for fatal crash

