Police target aggressive drivers
Weeklong blitz cracks down on speeding, impairment and distraction on roads
If you feel the urge to speed to get to work on time, or peek at your phone while driving, Toronto police will be showing “zero tolerance” to those they catch this week.
On Monday, Toronto police launched their annual weeklong, citywide pedes- trian safety campaign, close to three years after city council approved Mayor John Tory’s Vision Zero road safety strategy.
“(Vision Zero) acknowledges that collisions are inevitable but that killed and seriously injured (KSI) collisions are preventable and unacceptable,” read a police press release. “Zero injuries and deaths on our roads is the number that we all should be working towards.”
Sgt. Brett Moore, spokesperson for Traffic Services, told the Star that police officers will concentrate on the leading causes of crashes.
“It really comes down to drivers who speed, (are) distracted or impaired, or driving aggressively,” Moore said.
He added that the campaign will also focus on drivers’ actions around school buses. When driving on a road without a median, drivers in both directions must stop for a stopped school bus with its upper red lights flashing. They can’t advance until the red lights have stopped flashing or the bus begins to move.
Moore said officers won’t just be handing out tickets, but also talking about safety. “We’re trying to spend as much energy or more to create conversations,” he said, “and have people talk to family members ... to paint that vivid picture that these are the realities of what’s causing a lot of the injuries on our roads.”
Drivers ticketed by police can face penalties ranging from $50 to having their car impounded for stunt driving.
The penalty will depend on the speed, Moore said.
The campaign runs until Sunday. Police said more than half the pedestrians killed last year were aged 55 or older.
According to statistics compiled by the Star using police and media reports, five cyclists and 42 pedestrians were killed on Toronto streets in 2018. That total is higher than any single year in a police database that goes back to 2007.
It’s unclear if that number was an all-time record, as the Star does not have independent data on pedestrian and cyclist deaths before that year.
Thirteen motorists and10 motorcyclists were also killed on Toronto streets in 2018, according to Star data.
There have been seven trafficrelated pedestrian deaths in 2019, according to Star data:
On Jan. 7, a 60-year-old man was hit while operating a mobility scooter on Close Ave., south of Queen St. W. He died in hospital the next day.
On Jan. 8, a 69-year-old woman was hit while walking across O’Connor Dr., north of St. Clair Ave. E. She died in hospital on Jan. 16.
On Jan. 15, Hang Vo, 58, was hit and killed by a garbage truck in a laneway steps north of St. Andrew subway station. A building manager who works in the area told the Star Vo, who was homeless, regularly slept in the area.
On Jan.16, a 40-year-old man was hit and killed by a dump truck while crossing Lawrence Ave. W., at the Allen Rd. exit, close to Lawrence West station.
On Jan. 16, a 75-year-old was hit by the driver of an Infiniti while crossing the intersection of Dufferin St. and Eglinton Ave. W. He died in hospital a week later.
On Jan. 17, a man in his 60s was killed in a hit-and-run collision near the intersection of Bathurst St. and Bloor St. W. Police said reports indicate the man was hit by a garbage truck.
On Feb. 2, a male pedestrian was struck and killed by a transport truck in the eastbound express lanes of Highway 401 at the Yonge St. exit.
Tory late last year said he remains committed to Vision Zero, the city’s plan to eliminate traffic deaths.
He had received criticism for earlier saying the plan is “not working” in a year-end interview with the CBC.