Categories
Infrastructure Roads Toronto Walking

Deadly by design: Supertest Road

On Tuesday, January 21, a 26-year-old woman was struck and killed by the driver of a tractor-trailer at the corner of Supertest Road and Alness Street in North York. According to police, the truck driver was making a right turn from Supertest south to Alness when he hit the pedestrian. Last week, I paid a […]

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About me Cycling Toronto Walking

Survey says… Torontonians demand safer streets

A mock-up of a re-imagined Danforth Avenue, Summer 2019 Yesterday, I met with fellow road safety advocates Keagan Gartz, executive director of Cycle Toronto, Gideon Forman from the David Suzuki Foundation, and Jessica Spieker, from Friends & Families for Safe Streets. The occasion was to publicize a new poll commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation […]

Categories
Brampton Roads Transit Walking

Why transit users shouldn’t beg to cross the street

If Brampton wants to continue Brampton Transit’s success, it can start by removing beg buttons at all Zum stops to start, as well as any other transfer point. There’s nothing worse than waiting four minutes to safely cross the street to watch your bus pass by.

Categories
Roads Toronto Walking

Islington Avenue: deadly by design

Memorial to 77-year old Pasquina Lapadula in front of her apartment building on Islington Avenue north of Finch On Thursday, November 29 at 6:30AM, Pasquina Lapadula left her Islington Avenue apartment building and crossed the street in front of her home. Soon after stepping out, she was struck and killed by the driver of an […]

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Infrastructure Politics Roads Toronto Walking

Zero vision in suburban Toronto

Though the city of Toronto has made some progress towards safer streets recently, the lack of police enforcement of traffic laws, the reluctance to spend serious money on road redesign, and the attitudes of some city officials continue to be obstacles towards making Toronto a safe place to walk and cycle. As part of the […]

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About me Cycling Roads Toronto Walking

Addressing the Toronto Police Services Board

Earlier today, on behalf of Walk Toronto, I made a deputation to the Toronto Police Services Board addressing the lack of traffic enforcement in the City of Toronto. After criticism from organizations such as Walk Toronto, Cycle Toronto, and Friends and Families for Safe Streets, the Toronto Police now plans to initiate a “Vision Zero enforcement […]

Categories
Roads Toronto Walking

The dangers of Don Mills Road

Don Mills Road looking south towards McNicoll Avenue, North York On the afternoon of Tuesday July 16, a woman was struck and killed by the driver of a left-turning waste collection truck as she was crossing the street. The tragedy happened at the corner of Cliffwood Road and Barkwood Crescent, in a quiet North York […]

Categories
Infrastructure Roads Walking

Dysfunction junction: the Union Station malfunction

Looking west to Union Station, August 2019 Last year, the City of Toronto hastily installed Jersey barriers in front of Union Station. This was a response to a tragic criminal act on Yonge Street in North York on April 23, 2018. A single individual drove a rented cargo van down the busy sidewalk, killing 10 […]

Categories
Infrastructure Toronto Walking

A year later, progress on Canongate Trail

Canongate Trail, February 2019 In February 2018, Duncan Xu, an 11-year old boy, was struck and killed crossing a residential street in North Scarborough on his way home from school. He was one of forty-two pedestrians unintentionally struck and killed by motorists in Toronto last year. Not long after Duncan’s death, I visited the neighbourhood […]

Categories
Brampton Cycling Parks Walking

Brampton’s multi-use path problems

Recreational Trail: no loitering Brampton, my hometown, has a great network of parks, many of which are connected by multi use paths that follow local waterways like the West Humber River and Etobicoke Creek. In suburban neighbourhoods where curvilinear street networks and cul-de-sacs predominate, these paths are necessary as shortcuts for pedestrians and cyclists, and […]