The eastern intersection of Niagara Drive and Sheridan Street in Oshawa, where the pedestrians were struck
On Wednesday, October 21, around 9:20 AM, the driver of a Volvo crossover SUV was turning left from Niagara Drive to Sheridan Street in Oshawa. The driver, a 62-year-old woman, struck a daycare worker and five young children who were crossing Sheridan Street at the intersection. A two-year-old was rushed to Sick Kids hospital in life-threatening condition while the adult and another child were sent to a local hospital with serious injuries.
This collision occurred in a residential neighbourhood in suburban North Oshawa, near the Durham College/Ontario Tech University campus, the sort of neighbourhood families move into because of amenities like parks and playgrounds, large single-family houses, and perceived safety. There is absolutely no excuse for a tragedy such as this one, though the Durham Regional Police press release points out that Niagara Drive, a residential side street, “has no traffic control.” However, the pedestrians had the right-of-way, crossing from north to south in an unmarked crosswalk, with traffic on Sheridan and Ryerson facing stop signs.
On Tuesday October 27, I paid a visit to Niagara Drive to see the area for myself.
Niagara Drive is a winding, crescent-shaped street off of Simcoe Street, Oshawa’s main north-south road. All traffic entering or exiting the neighbourhood must exit at one of the two intersections of Niagara and Simcoe, so Niagara is not used as a through route. Sheridan Street is a shorter roadway that meets Niagara Drive twice; opposite Ryerson Crescent on the west side and opposite Canadore Crescent on the east side. (All the streets in the neighbourhood were named for Canadian colleges and universities, likely inspired by the nearby campus.) The collision occurred at the westerly intersection.
There are no painted stop bars, crosswalks, or any visual cues for drivers to watch for pedestrians at the intersection. Just a small stop sign. Note the wide turn radii at the corners.
The entire neighbourhood is designated as a maximum 40 km/h zone, with regular signage along Niagara Street. However, apart from speed limit signs and one automated speed radar monitor, there has been no effort made to slow down drivers along Niagara Drive, even though there are multiple parks and trails in the area.
Pickup driver facing a “your speed” radar sign on Niagara Drive, going 50 km/h in a signed 40 km/h zone
Not one intersection on Niagara Drive is controlled by all-way stop signs, nor are there any other speed control measures, such as speed bumps/speed humps, medians, or curb bump-outs. There is no designated crosswalk for pedestrians to access Niagara Park, which features a playground, shade structure, and a soccer field. Even though parking is restricted (because of the nearby university/college campus), the roadway is wide with no lane markings. Everything about the road design encourages driving well beyond the 40 km/h limit with no need to slow down or stop at any point.
Playground and shade structure at Niagara Park
Even the park in the middle of the neighbourhood is designed for drivers. Though there’s no crosswalk for nearby residents to access the playground, there is a parking lot, an unusual feature for a local park.
Niagara Park parking lot
Though the driver should have seen the children crossing at the intersection, there was no thought by traffic engineers whatsoever to the safety of vulnerable road users on Niagara Drive. Sadly, this is just too typical of North American suburbs, where the streets, parks, and neighbourhoods were designed almost exclusively around the private automobile. In some municipalities, retrofits such as speed humps and all-way stops were later added, but this area is devoid of even those low-cost interventions.
This collision was no accident. The driver failed to yield to pedestrians crossing an intersection with the right of way, and did not see the adult and several young children. The road was designed for fast speeds, despite serving a quiet residential area. Finally, not even the most basic safety interventions were made to prevent tragedies such as this.
Bloor Street West, near Islington Avenue, October 14 2026 as dozens of police officers confront cyclists blocking workers from removing the cycling lane
In the so-called “War on the Car,” it feels like the provincial government is the one leading the charge.
In the last few years, the Ontario PC government, led by Doug Ford, has pulled out all the Stops (pun intended) in favouring motorists. Though the province is funding major transit expansion in the Greater Toronto Area, it has also accelerated the construction of new highways in the suburban “905 Belt” including the Bradford Bypass (Highway 425) and Highway 413 between Milton and Vaughan. It eliminated tolls on the provincially-owned sections of Highway 407 in Durham Region. The province also raised most provincial freeway speed limits to 110 kilometres per hour, even on congested sections of Highway 401 in Toronto. It eliminated the automobile licence plate renewal fee, and reduced fuel taxes soon after getting elected. Premier Ford has also pushed for a tunnel under Highway 401 that will never get built, but will waste time and resources for a study.
Along with these pro-driver policy decisions, the Ford government has struck back against local measures that were designed to promote walking and cycling and protect road users — especially pedestrians and cyclists — from injury and death.
In 2025, the province, once again weaponizing its constitutional authority to override municipalities, forced the removal of speed enforcement cameras. Traffic speeds, predictably, went up. In 2024, the government used its majority to pass Bill 212, the “Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act” which prohibits municipalities from installing cycling infrastructure that would take away from general traffic lanes without ministerial approval. The legislation also gave the government authority to override Toronto City Council decisions, by removing city-installed cycling lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street, and University Avenue/Queen’s Park Circle. All three of these routes have subways underneath and parallel other multilane routes such as Jarvis Street/Mount Pleasant Road and the Gardiner Expressway. In 2025, Bill 212 was followed by Bill 60, the “Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act” which outright banned the removal of traffic lanes for bike lanes (or any other prescribed purpose).
It didn’t matter that the municipalities are responsible for their own streets. It didn’t matter that the people of Toronto elected their councils with the mandate to make these local decisions. It didn’t matter that experts and even senior civil servants in the Ministry of Transportation pushed back, as the Toronto Star reports. And it didn’t matter that a majority of Toronto voters rejected the PC government, even tossing out a PC MPP in Etobicoke-Lakeshore in the Winter 2025 snap election.
Several suburban municipalities have used the province’s direction as an excuse to remove some of their cycling infrastructure. The enactment of Bill 60 was cited in the resolution by Brampton City Council earlier this year to remove bike lanes on Charolais Boulevard in the city’s southwest, restoring four driving lanes on a street that never needed them.
Bike lanes on suburban collector roads including Howden Boulevard in Brampton and Aquitaine Avenue in Mississauga (pictured) have also disappearedin 2025-2026. Photo taken on a weekday afternoon.
Make no mistake, this is a culture war, manufactured to pit cyclists that the Ford Brothers have long vilified versus the Ford Nation base of middle class suburbanites and affluent voters. Not only is it a convenient distraction from education scandals, allegations of corruption, and a teetering health system, it’s a great fundraising tool. The PCs don’t need their supporters to chip in to fight the war for the car — they’ll do it with or without your $25 donation — but they’ll sure take your money.
😔 The transportation minister assures me I’m next though
After winning an appeal in August of a lower court decision that had blocked the removal of lanes (in that earlier decision, the judge found that the province had no evidence that cycling infrastructure causes congestion), Ford’s government wasted no time dismantling a 1.1 km section of the Bloor Street bike lanes in Etobicoke, between Clissold Road (just west of Islington) and Royal York Road. Though Bloor Street is a municipal road, the province took it upon itself to begin removal work, overriding the city.
On this section of Bloor, the City of Toronto installed short concrete curbs augmented with plastic flexiposts to separate the bike lanes from parked cars and general traffic, often an interim measure before major road construction allows for more permanent infrastructure. This was a relatively easy bike lane to remove, at least without active opposition from cyclists and safe street activists.
Workers removing flexiposts from small concrete curbs that would later be removed, Wednesday October 14
Work was scheduled to begin the evening of Tuesday, October 13, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. The work was originally intended to only occur after 6PM, to minimize effects on traffic. But after hundreds showed up that evening to block removal work, it was quickly rescheduled for the next day, with work slated to begin by 11 AM. Still, several dozen showed up, and after blocking the work yet again, dozens of police from all over the city came out to put an end to that. The resistance was peaceful, and there was just one arrest of a cyclist refusing to get on the sidewalk that day (a second was arrested in the evening).
Near Etobicoke and Islington on Wednesday morning, before police arrived
One also noticed that the untendered contractor — Verdi Alliance — was not proud of its work on behalf of the province. It covered up the logos on its vehicles with paperboard and duct tape. Logos on its temporary conditions road signage (the orange signs in construction areas) were also covered in tape. One could feel some sympathy for the workers on site, who faced several days of being yelled at, as they are usually assigned for legitimate road work, perhaps installing cycling infrastructure elsewhere.
Workers placing a “bike lane closed” sign on Bloor Street near Roya York with the Verdi Alliance logo at top right taped overVerdi Alliance truck at Bloor and Royal York with logos covered up on Thursday, October 15
To me, the piles of removed concrete curbs in the abandoned bike lane made me think of the piles of old wooden ties from disused railways being ripped up. I had a similar feeling of melancholy when I saw railways like the Orangeville-Brampton line disappear.
Piled concrete curbs and metal anchors in the Bloor Street bike lane in Etobicoke made me thing of railway ties and spikes as an abandoned railway is torn upThe Orangeville-Brampton Railway being torn up in early 2022
While visiting the Kingsway neighbourhood, I could not help but notice how affluent and conservative the Bloor-Royal York area is. In the last weeks of a municipal election, Brad Bradford’s signs dominated over incumbent Olivia Chow’s on large residential lawns. There were many luxury SUVs, such as BMWs, Porsches, and Land Rovers, being driven or parked on the side streets. Teenagers exiting Royal York Station wore the uniforms of prominent Rosedale and Forest Hill private schools. Cycling infrastructure was probably always going to be a hard sell here, where the older urban city meets the postwar suburbs.
Off of Bloor Street, most residential streets are made of large houses on roadways without sidewalks. Of the election signs I saw, most were for right-wing mayoral candidate Brad Bradford and council candidate Ted Opitz, who previously represented the neighbouring riding as a Conservative MP.
Pedestrians walk north on Brentwood Road, a residential side street without sidewalks, despite a nearby Toronto Public Library branch.
But my sadness and anger became a white hot rage after crossing in a marked crosswalk at Bloor and Brentwood: I was nearly nailed by a driver in a Land Rover SUV who violated the HTA by failing to stop at the stop sign and solid stop line protecting the crosswalk and bike lane. This turned out to be a very common occurrence at this intersection, as I sat on a bench and recorded drivers blowing through.
Clearly, drivers here do not care about the safety of anyone else. And the province is catering to them above all others. If pedestrians or cyclists are injured or killed by aggressive, distracted, or speeding motorists, that’s just the cost of living in Doug Ford’s Toronto.
Most drivers at Brentwood Street at Bloor Street West don’t stop at the stop line and roll through the crosswalk
Correction: I amended the information about Bills 60 and 212 to be more accurate.
A gigantic school zone speed limit sign on McCowan Road in Scarborough
Months after Doug Ford’s provincial government banned the use of municipal speed enforcement cameras, calling it a “cash grab,” new supersized school speed zone signs are going up across the province. The first ones I encountered are on McCowan Road in Scarborough, near my spouse’s family home.
The signs, placed near St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School south of Finch Avenue, are gigantic: nearly 2.5 metres tall, mounted over three metres above the ground, affixed to an extra large wooden pole as the new signs were too big for the standard metal poles used for that purpose. The province delivered 80 signs to the City of Toronto, but with four signs per school zone (two mounted in each direction including advance warning signs), that meant only 20 schools would get these new totems.
The new supersized school zone sign next to an older “community safety zone” sign, affixed to a standard metal sign pole
Before the pro-driver legislation was enacted on November 14, 2025, there was a speed camera placed on McCowan Road adjacent to the elementary school, one of 150 located in the City of Toronto. Under provincial law, municipal speed cameras were only allowed to be installed in specific designated safety zones, namely roadways adjacent to schools, parks, or seniors’ residences, and had to be accompanied with advisory signage.
Between April 2024, when the camera was activated, and July 2025, when the camera was destroyed (one of many vandalized that year), over 19,000 speeding motorists were captured by the photo camera travelling at least 11 km/h over the posted speed limit. This was despite the existing maximum speed, school zone, community safety zone, and municipal speed camera signs on this stretch of road.
Sign warning of a municipal speed camera in Brampton in October 2025
Despite the high number of infractions, the cameras were doing their job; a job that the Toronto Police isn’t motivated — or able — to do. As seasoned municipal watcher Matt Elliot points out, for period between January 1, 2025 through November 14, 2025 (when camera enforcement was forced to end), 628,165 speeding tickets were issued through the automated speed enforcement program. Toronto Police’s “Vision Zero” traffic unit issued just 14,500 tickets.
New city report notes the Toronto Police Vision Zero Enforcement Team handed out about 14,500 speeding tickets in 2025. Might sound like a lot, but well, compare and contrast.
Despite all those tickets issued, the cameras were especially effective at reducing speeding in school zones. A 2025 Toronto Metropolitan University/SickKids Hospital study found that speed enforcement cameras reduced speeding by 45 per cent and reduced speeds by most drivers by more than 10 km/h.
Active police enforcement remains a valuable tool because officers can lay charges that automatic speed cameras can not catch, including distracted, impaired, and dangerous driving. But policing has a dark history of racial profiling and has a pro-motorist “windshield bias,” while speed enforcement and red light cameras do not discriminate.
Furthermore, North American roads are designed for excessive speed and not for the safety of vulnerable road users. We rely on signs to advise motorists of how we expect them to drive, rather than road design that requires attentive and slower driving. Speed cameras were a useful stopgap that worked a lot better than signage.
So, the new supersized signs going up are not a solution to unsafe driving: they are just another mere indication that children, seniors, and all pedestrians and cyclists don’t really matter, especially to politicians like Doug Ford.
Slip lane with small pedestrian refuge island at Dupont Street and Ossington Avenue
There are many ways that road design acts to facilitate vehicle drivers yet impede pedestrian mobility. There’s the beg button (traffic engineers prefer the term “pedestrian call button”) that ensures maximum traffic throughput unless a pesky pedestrian or cyclist decides they want to cross the road too when the light turns green. There’s the two-phase pedestrian crossing that guarantees a long wait to cross a wide traffic artery on foot. Wide curb radii at intersections allow drivers to easily turn, yet they intrude into the crosswalk space. And there’s the slip lane, also known as a channelized right turn.
Most slip lanes are designed to allow right-turning motor vehicles to bypass an intersection. Where an intersection may be controlled by a traffic signal or a stop sign, typically, a slip lane is only controlled by a yield sign, reminding motorists to give way to pedestrians crossing and/or oncoming traffic on the roadway being turned into. They are typically built for higher speeds, with turn radii even greater than those afforded by generous curved curbs at many urban intersections. The space left over in the triangular bit of concrete is where pedestrians must wait to cross the main roadways.
Occasionally, slip lanes are used to discourage or prevent certain turning movements. At shopping plaza entrances, for example, slip lanes are used to prevent left turns into or out of the driveway. They may also be used at one-way streets for the same purpose.
Thankfully, slip lanes are not the standard in the City of Toronto. At least forty slip lanes were removed between 2005 and 2025, including Front Street eastbound at Yonge, from Coxwell Avenue southbound at Dundas Street East, and a half dozen on Danforth Road in Scarborough. In the downtown core, there are only three remaining examples that cross pedestrian pathways: from southbound Bay Street to Queen Street West, from eastbound Bloor Street to Parliament Street, and from Mount Pleasant Road to Jarvis Street. There are several other intersections in the city centre that allow some right-turning vehicles to bypass the main intersection, such as Adelaide and Richmond Streets at Jarvis, University at Front, or Parliament at Gerrard, but these still require a full turn at their start or end point, mitigating their danger.
A map of slip lanes in Toronto, and those removed in the last twenty years, is below. This work was assisted my followers on BlueSky for their additions and corrections, and I appreciate their help.
By removing slip lanes, pedestrians and cyclists are better protected, and there can often be new space for seating, public art, or even plant life.
Slip lanes are far more common in suburban neighbourhoods outside the City of Toronto. In Brampton and Mississauga, slip lanes are common on regional roads such as Steeles Avenue, Dixie Road, or Erin Mills Parkway. These six-lane roads are designated as goods movement corridors, and are designed for heavy traffic, including tractor-trailers. Even in Peel, though, slip lanes are being rethought. Several were removed on Bovaird Drive in Brampton two years ago (replaced by signalized crossrides), while others are being repainted to empathize the pedestrian crossing and encourage slower movements. More signage tells motorists to stop for pedestrians.
Modified slip lane at Bovaird Drive and Main Street in Brampton. Further east, slip lanes were removed at three lower-traffic intersections and replaced by multi-use path crossings.
Though the City of Toronto has done some good work eliminating or modifying slip lanes in the name of traffic safety and an improved pedestrian realm, there are many more that still should be examined, such as the one at Ossington and Dupont, where, unusually, pedestrians are instructed to wait for a gap, rather than motorists instructed to yield. These “wait for gap” signs are found at the entrances and exits to expressways, such as the Gardiner Expressway or Highway 401. But these, too, can be changed. At the eastbound ramp to northbound Don Valley Parkway on the Prince Edward Viaduct, a free-flowing on-ramp was changed to a signalized right turn, improving safety and comfort for pedestrians and cyclists.
Crossing the Bay Street on-ramp to the eastbound Gardiner Expressway makes getting to the Waterfront more dangerous and uncomfortable than it should be
Hopefully, City of Toronto staff work to correct the situation at Dupont and Ossington (there’s no reason why pedestrians should be expected to yield to traffic in this revitalizing part of the city) and continue the work to make our streets safer for all.
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On Thursday, November 7, at approximately 7:35 AM, a 13-year-old girl was struck and killed by the driver of a Hyundai Santa Fe (a midsized crossover SUV) at Rossland Road and Stevensgate Drive. The girl was riding a bicycle in a marked crossride, a crossing designated for both pedestrians and cyclists along a multiuse path, when she was struck and pinned beneath the vehicle.
Multiuse paths (MUPs) are typically found in parks, particularly along waterbodies such as lakes, rivers, and creeks such as Lake Ontario or the Don River. They are shared by all sorts of people, including walkers, runners, cyclists, dog-walkers, rollerbladers, and wheelchair users, often coming into conflict on busy, narrow sections such as the Martin Goodman Trail or the Lower Don Trail.
In the suburbs surrounding Toronto (and in a few locations within the city, such as on Lake Shore Boulevard East and Eglinton Avenue West), MUPs are a popular form of cycling infrastructure along busier roads with higher speed limits. Older boulevard MUPs required cyclists to stop and dismount at road crossings (though these instructions were usually ignored). Newer and upgraded MUPs allow cyclists to ride across intersecting roadways, at marked crossrides. Signage advises motorists to watch for cyclists and advises cyclists to slow and watch for motorists and to yield to pedestrians. At signalized intersections, most new MUPs include dedicated bicycle signals.
It was at one of these new crossrides that Kirsty was struck and killed. Though no official police press release or any follow-up news articles provided the girl’s name, that name was clearly visible at the makeshift memorial next to where she was killed.
Crossride at Stevensgate Drive, where a driver pulled out ahead into the crossride without stopping at the stop sign/stop line first.
Rossland Road was recently widened from two to four through lanes; a new multiuse path was built on the north side of the roadway, complete with crossrides and cyclist signals. Rossland Road is very much a road. There are no houses fronting onto the roadway, while the few driveways on Rossland provide access only to church and commercial plaza parking lots.
Rossland Road in Ajax has two lanes in each direction, with a concrete median in between. The speed limit on Rossland is 60 km/h.
Stevensgate Drive, which leads north from Rossland Road, is a quiet residential street with about two dozen homes and an evangelical church. A stop sign controls traffic at Rossland Road. Though Stevensgate connects to a large subdivision to the north, there are several other streets with signalized intersections that also provide access to the community.
Motorists take wide turns pulling into Stevensgate Drive
When Kirsty was struck, it was by the southbound Santa Fe driver who would have passed a stop sign and a clearly painted stop line before entering the crossride. A CP24 news report clearly showed the vehicle being towed onto Rossland Road from the southbound direction. At 7:35 AM, it was daylight.
Drivers rolling through stop signs are a common occurrence, even though the law clearly states that a full and complete stop at the stop sign and painted stop line is required before proceeding. Had the driver done so, this tragedy most likely would have been prevented.
Looking west along the multiuse path, towards Ravenscroft Road
Two days later, on Saturday, November 9, I visited the scene. I noted the roadside memorial next to the stop sign facing Stevensgate Drive. While I was there, several people stopped to visit the memorial; at least two people left flowers and cards of sympathy.
While there, I mounted a small digital camera on the trunk of a car parked on the west side of Stevensgate, about 75 metres north of the intersection, in a legal parking spot. The camera, mounted on a mini-tripod, was mostly inconspicuous. Within 25 minutes, five motorists improperly stopped after the stop line and into the crossride; two properly stopped before creeping up to make their turn. Two drivers also made fast, wide right turns into Stevensgate during that time. The edited video below shows motorists’ actions during that 25 minutes
Video taken on Saturday, November 9 showing motorists driving south on Stevensgate Drive towards Rossland Road(3 minutes, 7 seconds)
While taking photographs and recording the videos, a resident, who lived a few houses north of the intersection, came to talk to me, and asked if I knew the girl. I explained why I was there, and we had a short, but good chat, about the collision and road safety. He noted that it is hard to see traffic from the stop line, and that he has to pull forward before turning. But he agreed that the stop line was there for a reason, and that drivers often rush to get onto Rossland.
In Washington DC, there are stop sign cameras mounted at specific locations, though there are only about a dozen of those throughout the city at any given time. These could provide a useful tool for targeted automated enforcement on Ontario’s roads to reinforce proper driving behaviour.
A pole-mounted camera faces an all-way stop in Washington DC
Intersections should also be redesigned to improve the visibility of pedestrians and cyclists at crosswalks and crossrides and act to slow down motorists; raised sidewalks and path crossings would act as a speed hump as well as enhance visibility. A concrete island or short median at the stop sign would force motorists to approach the stop at a slower speed and prevent wide turns on to and off the intersecting street. A quick and inexpensive (though less-effective) solution could be to place wide knock-down bollards with supplemental crossing and stop sign messages in the middle of the roadway at each stop bar and crosswalk/crossride. Though this is best as a short-term measure.
As the provincial government vindictively overrides municipalities’ ability to provide safer on-road cycling infrastructure, off-street infrastructure, such as MUPs, will remain an important tool for promoting active transportation, especially in suburban areas and high-traffic neighbourhoods. Though boulevard MUPs provide separation from traffic in most cases, they are particularly hazardous at intersections, especially when motorists are distracted, aggressive, or just merely careless. There is much more that can and should be done to make them safer for all road users.
On Monday, September 23 at 8:06 PM, the driver of a 2024 Hyundai Elantra sedan travelled north on Pacific Avenue. The driver of a 2017 Hyundai Tucson crossover SUV drove west Annette Street. The two vehicles collided in the intersection with enough force that the Tucson continued into the sidewalk on the northwest corner, striking two pedestrians. A man, aged 50, was injured and taken to hospital. Julia Cleveland, 46, died at the scene.
As of Thursday, October 3, charges have yet to be laid.
Looking west on Annette Street towards Pacific Avenue
On Saturday, September 29, I paid a visit to Annette and Pacific. A roadside memorial of flowers, cards, and tributes were laid next to the sidewalk where she and a fellow pedestrian were struck. I also took note of the streetscape, the surroundings, and driver behaviour on a Saturday afternoon.
While at the intersection, I observed many examples of distracted, aggressive and inconsiderate driving, as the video compilation depicts. Drivers intentionally drove through stale amber and solid red lights, blocked crosswalks, and swerved around slower vehicles. These motorist behaviours are commonplace.
Video shows driver behaviour at Annette Street and Pacific Avenue
I also noted many pedestrians and cyclists. There’s a No Frills grocery store on Pacific Avenue between Annette and Dundas. Two blocks east, there’s a Toronto Public Library branch. There were several families with young children, as well as older pedestrians.
In 2008, Annette Street was reconfigured from a four-lane cross-section to include bike lanes and centre left turn lanes. Though it is a busy east-west cycling route, connecting to bike lanes on Dupont Street and Runnymede Road, the lanes are unprotected and are only marked with solid white lines and signage. The limited protection offered to cyclists was made clear when a stretch Lincoln limousine pulled out front of St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church and idled in the bike lane for over 30 minutes. Though the driver was likely waiting out front for a wedding party to emerge, I noted at least two dozen cyclists forced to merge into traffic to get around it.
Cyclists merging around a limo idling in the unprotected bike lane
The intersection itself offers minimal protection to pedestrians. Sidewalks are flush against the roadway, with very shallow curbs. There are unnecessarily wide turning radiuses at intersections. On the northwest corner of Pacific and Annette, there are metal bollards, but they are positioned to protect the small apartment building, not the sidewalk itself.
Looking east on Annette from Pacific Avenue. On the right is St. Cecilia’s Catholic church, beyond is a masonic lodge and a Toronto Public Library branch
Annette and Dupont Streets make up a useful bypass around traffic on Bloor Street to the south. There are three blocks between Pacific Avenue and the first traffic signals to the east, at Keele Street. To the west, however, there are traffic signals at the next three intersections: at High Park Avenue, Quebec Avenue, and Clendenan Avenue. Motorists might be tempted to speed through amber and red signals. Without better protection — protected bike lanes, for example, pedestrians and cyclists are especially vulnerable. Despite the 2008 road diet, the roadway has not been significantly altered.
A few days later, on Wednesday, October 2, there were two more collisions in which drivers struck pedestrians at signalized intersections, at Avenue Road and Davenport Road in Midtown Toronto, and at Islington Avenue and Finchley Road/Odell Avenue in central Etobicoke.
At Avenue and Davenport Roads, a pedestrian was struck when the drivers of three cars collided. One vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz SUV, stopped on the sidewalk after hitting a concrete pole.
Pedestrian seriously injured at Avenue Road and Davenport. Road safety improvements on Avenue Road are scheduled to start soon, which unfortunately was not soon enough to prevent another injury. Via@ARSCSafetyhttps://t.co/CspQr8isoZpic.twitter.com/MqppOVd2PV
In Etobicoke, a family of five were struck by a left-turning motorist turning from Finchley Road south onto Islington Avenue. The driver, a 77-year old woman likely visually impaired by the late afternoon sun, hit the family; the entire family — including a one-month old baby — were sent to hospital with serious injuries, while the mother was sent to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries. Traffic signals were installed there in 2022 to help pedestrians cross Islington Avenue. Despite the new signals, locals continue to complain of drivers rushing the lights.
The problem on Toronto’s roads isn’t simply an engineering one, though protected bike lanes and physical traffic calming measures on Annette Street likely would have prevented Julia Cleveland’s death. Aggressive driving, including speeding, sudden lane changes, and red light running, along with distracted driving is increasingly a problem in Toronto and across the region. Engineering changes can help curb speeds, but there needs to be more done to rein in dangerous behaviour. That means more automated enforcement (red light and speed cameras) but also active enforcement to curb dangerous driving.
On Thursday, July 21, 2022, at 3:10 PM, a 38-year-old man was standing at a street corner in Scarborough, waiting for a signal to safely cross to the other side. Before he even had the chance to enter the intersection of Warden Avenue at Comstock Road, a driver of a 2009 silver Kia minivan heading south on Warden struck a 2012 red Lexus, whose driver was making a left turn from Warden to Comstock.
Aerial view of the collision, courtesy of CTV News. The Kia minivan struck a 38-year-old man waiting at the corner before plowing into a fence protecting a vacant lot.
A week after the deadly collision, I visited the intersection. On the southwest corner of Warden and Comstock, a roadside memorial was set up with flowers and a wooden cross. A temporary wooden pole held up a new pedestrian “beg button” for walkers to get across Warden Avenue. The Kia’s path into the sidewalk and the fence was very much visible, though all debris from the collision was cleaned up.
Appeal to witnesses following a deadly collision at Warden Avenue and Comstock Road
The collision was still being investigated. While the Toronto Police were looking for witnesses to the collision, an investigator from Aviva Insurance was also looking for witnesses; several notices were taped to nearby traffic poles.
Without knowing all the facts of the collision — which are unlikely to be reported in the news media — it would be fair to assume that speed and/or inattentive driving were at fault, but the design of the intersection — as well as Warden Avenue and Comstock Road themselves — are also to blame.
On Sunday, June 7, Olivia and Julia Sarracini were crossing Calvington Drive at Keele Street. It was 12:15 in the morning. The walk sign turned on, and the two sisters, aged 17 and 19, entered the crosswalk, walking north. Behind them, the driver of a black SUV waited for southbound traffic to clear the intersection before turning left, directly into the two young women, who were already halfway across the intersection.
Julia suffered leg injuries and was sent to hospital. Olivia, who was just finishing Grade 12, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the SUV did not stop, but fled westbound on Calvington Drive.
Two days later, Toronto Police arrested 46-year-old Shawn Ramsey. He was charged with two criminal offences: fail to stop at the scene of an accident causing death and fail to stop at the scene of an accident causing bodily harm.
The driver was definitely at fault for striking the two women, who were walking with the right of way and all due care necessary. But it remains quite possible that if the motorist remained at the scene that night might only be facing minor Highway Traffic Act charges. (Without a vulnerable road users’ law, justice for pedestrians and cyclists injured or killed on Ontario’s streets is terribly inadequate.) Yet road design and a poor transportation network in Toronto’s inner suburbs played a significant role here.
Memorial for Olivia Sarracini
This section of Keele Street provides a link between Highway 401 and Humber River Regional Hospital to the south, and Finch Avenue, York University, and several industrial areas to the north. Downsview Park is just to the north of Calvington Avenue, and along with the large parkspace, new residential development is well underway, with more planned.
The area around Keele and Calvington was developed in the 1950s and 1960s, though visages of the old village of Downsview can be found close by, towards Wilson Avenue to the south. Between Wilson and Sheppard, Keele Street is five lanes wide, with a centre left-turn lane. Traffic is heavy throughout the day and evening, with many trucks headed to and from industrial lands and nearby construction sites. Even in heavy traffic, motorists regularly exceed the 50 km/h speed limit.
Pedestrians are provided only with narrow sidewalks, close to the road. These sidewalks are not separated from strip plaza parking spaces. Despite a major hospital, nearby elementary and secondary schools, a library, Downsview Park, and urban intensification taking place in the area, there are no cycling facilities. Cyclists, therefore, usually take the sidewalk. While cyclists avoid heavy traffic on Keele’s narrow lanes, they infringe on the little bit of space given to pedestrians.
Strip plaza across Keele Street from Calvington Avenue
Calvington runs west from Keele, with a strip plaza and gas station on the east side of the intersection. Though most traffic off Calvington turns south, pedestrians are prohibited from crossing at the north side, lest they slow down left-turning motorists off of Calvington. Furthermore, an advance left turn signal gives priority to northbound motorists turning on to Calvington from Keele, though the advance signal is only triggered by a queue of several left-turning vehicles.
Though neither the advance signal nor the crossing restriction were factors in the collision on June 7, they are just further reminders of who the streetscape was designed for.
Pedestrians are prohibited from crossing at the north side of the Keele and Calvington intersection. Note the sidewalk cyclist, likely headed to nearby Downsview Park.
Soon after Olivia Sarracini’s death, Councillor James Pasternak moved to request a traffic safety review of the Keele and Calvington intersection at the June 16 meeting of North York Community Council. Pasternak suggested that street lighting, traffic signal synchronization, traffic signage, and “the feasibility of installing advance green traffic lights” be included in the review.
The trouble with that motion is that it too narrow. There are dozens of similar intersections in Toronto’s post-war suburbs. The intersection already has an advance green traffic signal. I would suggest that a review of the whole district is necessary in the the context of new and upcoming urban development, poor access to Downsview Park from the south and west, and inadequate and unsafe active transportation infrastructure. Nearby Highway 401 and the GO Transit Barrie Line both create significant barriers to pedestrians and cyclists in the area.
Olivia Sarracini was killed and Julia Sarracini was injured by a dangerous and callous driver who did not have the humanity to stay and offer assistance and take responsibility. This tragedy shouldn’t warrant a narrow safety review. Without changing the built environment, tragedies like these will continue.
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 SUV traveling northbound. The driver then fled the scene. Sadder still, drivers passed the scene without stopping to help.
According to the Toronto Star, 37 pedestrians have been killed on Toronto’s streets. Of those, 24 were 60 years old or over. Since 2007, 410 pedestrians were killed on Toronto’s streets; 238 of those were aged 60 or older. November 2019 was an especially deadly month; Lapadula was the third older pedestrian killed in Toronto in just three days.
Though blame can be laid at the driver, who despite having ultra-bright headlights and fog lights, struck Lapadula and sped away afterwards, this part of Islington Avenue, like many other suburban roads in Toronto, is deadly by design.
Islington Avenue looking south from Aviemore Drive towards Finch Avenue
The collision took place at Aviemore Drive in Humber Summit, in Toronto’s northwestern corner, near the boundary between the former cities of Etobicoke and North York. The area was developed in the 1960s and 1970s, when automobile-centric planning was at its peak.
Islington Avenue is five lanes wide between intersections, including a striped middle lane that turns into left turn lanes at intersections. Sidewalks are separated by wide boulevards, and there are long distances between traffic signals.
The road has a slight curve north of Finch Avenue, with a hill down towards the East Humber River at Finch. From Aviemore Drive, it is a 220 metre walk south to the crosswalk at Finch Avenue and 430 metres north to the traffic signals at Milady Road. Just south of Aviemore Drive are entrances to Gord and Irene Risk Park and Recreation Centre and Rowntree Mills Park.
As the speed limit is unposted on this section of Islington Avenue, by law, vehicles may only go a maximum of 50 kilometres per hour. However, the road design encourages speeds far greater than the limit.
TTC bus stopped in bay in front of Pasquina Lapadula’s apartment building
As on Don Mills Road north of Finch, TTC buses stop in bus bays instead of on the street itself. These bus bays were not designed for the benefit of transit, but instead for the convenience of private motorists. Buses stopping get out of the way of traffic, and then must merge back in. (A law requiring other motorists to do so exists, but is never enforced.)
Everything about the road design is designed for high vehicle throughput, with little consideration for pedestrian safety.
Islington and Finch Avenues
It is true that Pasquina Lapadula could have walked 220 metres down to Finch Avenue, and depending on her destination, another 220 metres back up the hill. The traffic signals and painted crosswalks would have provided additional safety. But the intersection of Finch and Islington itself is problematic.
The intersection sits on a large viaduct over the East Humber River. Right turn slip lanes are found on the southwest and northeast quadrants, allowing right-turning traffic to pass by quickly while requiring pedestrians to cross an additional lane of traffic governed only by a yield sign. Buses on Finch stop at bus bays at the far side of the intersection, further lengthening the distance pedestrians must cross.
Slip lane from Finch to Islington
I was frustrated when two Toronto councillors advocate giving out reflective armbands for pedestrians to wear, especially as one of those councillors opposed road safety initiatives in her own ward. I was angered the Toronto Star’s editorial board ignore city data, their own reporters and columnists, and pedestrian and cycling advocates to back those two suburban councillors.
This was especially tone deaf given the Toronto Police Service’s abandonment of traffic enforcement, the epidemic of pedestrians being killed in the last two years, and the disturbing number of hit-and-runs. Armbands would not have saved Pasquina Lapadula’s life when she was confronted by the driver of a speeding SUV, with blindingly bright headlights and fog lights.
This is why we need real Vision Zero measures like lower speed limits, more safe pedestrian crossings, road re-engineering to slow down vehicles, complete streets, and effective police enforcement.
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 city’s Vision Zero 2.0 Plan, City Council voted in July to reduce speed limits from 60 km/h to 50 km/h on 37 sections of arterial roadways across the city, and from 50 km/h to 40 km/h on five more roads. Councillors Ana Bailão and Jim Karygiannis moved to extend several of these sections. However, rookie councillor Cynthia Lai (Ward 23-Scarborough North) moved to amend the item to remove three sections of arterial roads in her ward:
Brimley Road from Sheppard Avenue East to Steeles Avenue East,
Markham Road from Milner Avenue to Steeles Avenue East, and
McCowan Road from Milner Avenue to Steeles Avenue East.
High speeds and dangerous driving are major problems in Ward 23, a part of the city that I visit a few times a month. Brimley, Markham, and McCowan Roads are designed solely for car traffic: they are lined by plazas, warehouses, and backyard fences. Traffic signals are often far apart. Markham and McCowan Roads are also high-speed thoroughfares connecting Markham to Highway 401.
Walking along McCowan Road between Finch and Steeles earlier this year, my spouse and I encountered a pedestrian refuge smashed in by a motorist. The refuge island was protected by reflective signage, as well as metal barriers, and was installed to help pedestrians cross at a TTC bus stop, though pedestrians are not given the right of way.
Smashed pedestrian refuge island on McCowan Road
This is why it was so disappointing to see Councillor Lai organize a “Senior Pedestrian Safety Initiative” with Toronto Police at Woodside Square, a community mall at the corner of McCowan Road and Finch Avenue. Councillor Lai, her staff, and local police were “educating” seniors about pedestrian safety, while giving out reflective armbands. Councillor Lai claimed it was part of the city’s Vision Zero strategy, and she doesn’t “think we should blame anybody.”
Supporting Councillor Lai’s position, on Monday November 25, Councillor James Pasternak said “wearing high visibility clothing or reflective gear is a key part of keeping everyone safe, including pedestrians, construction workers, cyclists, police officers and crossing guards. Let’s make VisionZeroTO work.” Councillor Pasternak is Mayor John Tory’s handpicked chair of the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, which among its duties is ensuring the safety of Toronto’s road infrastructure.
Wearing high visibility clothing or reflective gear is a key part of keeping everyone safe, including pedestrians, construction workers, cyclists, police officers and crossing guards. Let's make @VisionZeroTO work. #Toronto#TOpolihttps://t.co/rD7ysxql9h
Vision Zero 2.0 says nothing about armbands. Instead, the plan includes reducing speeds, road design improvements, and safer crossings at TTC stops.
Though it is always a good idea for pedestrians to be aware of their surroundings and be predictable when crossing the street, most of the responsibility falls on the city, which designs the roads, the police, who have abandoned their duty to protect road users, and drivers, who are licensed and insured to operate multi-tonne vehicles. The rash of hit-and-runs after pedestrians were struck is especially alarming.
Ironically, Woodside Square itself was hit twice by drivers in the last two years. In December 2017, a motorist crashed through both sets of doors at the mall entrance closest to Shoppers Drug Mart. In February 2018, a motorist, possibly dealing with medical problems, crashed into several cars and into a Subway restaurant at the mall. High-visibility clothing would not have helped in either of those cases.
It’s unfortunate that a city councillor will choose giving out reflective armbands over effective speed reductions, road redesign, and traffic enforcement. Hopefully, Councillor Lai will take the criticism to heart and do better for Ward 23.
Post script: A staff report to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee in October 2019 continued the recommendation for speed reductions in Ward 23, citing minimal impacts to travel times, and the dangerous conditions on Brimley, Markham, and McCowan Roads. Staff noted that there have been 6 fatalities and 20 serious injuries incidents on those three road segments. On October 29, Council voted to lower the speed limits on Brimley, Markham, and McCowan Roads against Councillor Lai’s objections.
Memorial to 77-year old Pasquina Lapadula in front of her apartment building on Islington Avenue north of Finch
Islington Avenue looking south from Aviemore Drive towards Finch Avenue
TTC bus stopped in bay in front of Pasquina Lapadula’s apartment building
Islington and Finch Avenues
Smashed pedestrian refuge island on McCowan Road
