Mayor’s road safety plan may change — but not the funding
Husband of woman killed by minivan urges ‘bolder moves’ from local politicians
A road safety strategy criticized as too timid may be tweaked before it goes to city council, but Mayor John Tory says it will not get additional funding.
Tory and Councillor Jaye Robinson, who unveiled the strategy Monday, immediately faced backlash over the document’s stated goal of reducing traffic-related injuries and deaths by 20 per cent over 10 years.
They have since pledged to amend it to explicitly target zero fatalities, but Tory said Wednesday that the money allocated will “remain the same.” That’s unlikely to placate pedestrian and cycling advocates, who are heaping pressure on the city to take stronger action to prevent the deaths of vulnerable road users.
Relatives of traffic victims gathered Wednesday morning in Nathan Phillips Square to demand “Vision Zero” policies aimed at eliminating injuries through safer street design.
Among the protesters was David Stark, whose wife, Erica, 42, was killed in 2014 when a minivan mounted the curb at Midland Ave. and Gilder Dr. and struck her. The collision left the couple’s three young boys without a mother.
“I feel that I have to try to come to terms with what happened to her, and do what I can to prevent a similar fate happening to other people and their families,” Stark said.
“We need to make bolder moves, and it has to happen quicker than the politicians are planning.”
There were 65 traffic deaths in 2015, a 10-year high, and already this year 17 pedestrians have been killed, including a 38-year-old woman run over by an SUV on Tuesday at a downtown open-air market.
The city plan would spend $68 million over five years on road safety initiatives such as pedestrian-priority crossing signals, enhanced crosswalk markings and radar technology to catch speeding drivers.
Tory told reporters Wednesday that if the $150-million bike network council approved last week is taken into account, his administration is investing “hundreds of millions of dollars” in safer streets.
He conceded the 20-per-cent target was a “communications error,” but reiterated that his goal was al- ways to eliminate fatal collisions. The plan will be debated at Monday’s public works meeting, where Robinson, who serves as public works chair, will introduce a motion setting the zero fatality target. The councillor also told the Star she’s asked advocacy groups Cycle Toronto and Walk Toronto to provide input.
But Jared Kolb, executive director of Cycle Toronto, said that without increased investment now, the plan will remain inadequate. With files from Jennifer Pagliaro