Improve trail safety
The heartbreaking death of a 5-year-old boy last week has underscored the urgent need to improve the safety of the Martin Goodman Trail — and others like it — throughout the city.
On Wednesday evening, little Xavier Morgan, who was out riding his bike with his grandfather, fell into traffic on Lake Shore Blvd. W. from the path near Jameson Ave. and was struck by a car.
Though the trail veers dangerously close to the high-speed boulevard at that point, there is no guardrail there separating it from the roadway.
There should be — at that point and others along the trail that come too close to traffic.
While bike lanes aren’t separated from roads for the most part in the city, a cycling/pedestrian trail in a park-like setting is different. It inspires a feeling of security in users and the paths are often the first place parents and guardians take children to teach them to ride safely.
As Jared Kolb of Cycle Toronto, a not-for-profit advocacy group that educates Torontonians on safer cycling, points out: the city needs “a systematic overturn of how we design trails next to highways.”
The Martin Goodman Trail is particularly dangerous, with cyclists and rollerbladers zooming past pedestrians, and cars crossing the path at various points.
The Star’s Scott Colby knows that all too well. In Friday’s edition, he chronicled a history of harrowing incidents over his years commuting by bicycle.
Pedestrians, too, are at risk of being hit by cyclists and roller bladers on the Martin Goodman Trail and other multi-purpose paths.
There’s a good reason that Vancouver separated its pedestrian pathway from its cycle/roller-blade trail circling busy Stanley Park. It was simply becoming too dangerous.
Toronto should consider doing the same on high-traffic multipurpose trails.
In short, a safety overhaul of the entire Martin Goodman Trail, and others like it, is in order. Some issues city councillors and planners should consider: Where should there be guardrails? What kinds of signs or markings are needed to alert drivers to watch out for cyclists and pedestrians when they are on roads that cross paths? How can cyclists and roller-bladers be educated to be more careful around pedestrians? What trails in the city need separate biking and walking paths to prevent pedestrians and cyclists from colliding?
It should not have taken the death of a young boy to prompt this overdue conversation. We should not wait until someone else gets hurt to act.
A 5-year-old died on Wednesday evening after he fell off his bike into the path of traffic on Lake Shore Blvd. W. from the Martin Goodman Trail. Why wasn’t there a guardrail there?