Fatal hit sparks review of TTC stop

Pedestrian safety advocates, transit users outraged over death of 21-year-old woman

A 21-year-old student was hit by a minivan after trying to cross a high speed roadway from a TTC bus stop on Steeles Ave. E., 200 metres away from the closest signalized intersection, with no sidewalk.

The bus stop, just east of Eastvale Dr., is now out of service until further notice, said a spokesperson for the TTC, and under review by the transit agency and city officials.

Jessica Renee Salickram died on Jan. 7, almost a month after her birthday. She was on her way home from the Eaton Centre, where she had indulged in her passion for makeup and shoes. She had taken a gap year from York University and was wait- ing to hear about her acceptance to Humber College: she wanted to be a journalist.

Her bus stop had no shelter, just a pole with a red TTC sticker on the edge of a field. On the opposite side a development of houses. There’s one street light on the northeast corner of Eastvale Dr.

Salickram walked across the road, according to Toronto police.

She was pronounced dead on the dimly-lit, busy motorway,10 minutes away from her home, where she lived with her mother. She was her only child.

“She didn’t deserve to die this way,” said her mother, Jacquelyn Persaud. “Unfortunately, it took my daughter’s death for this problem to come to light.”

In the wake of Salickram’s death, pedestrian safety advocates and frequent transit users are outraged.

“Often times (walking across the road) is not a choice,” said Kasia Briegmann-Samson, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Friends and Families for Safe Streets.

In an email, TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said that they are working with the cities of Toronto and Markham to review solutions for the Steeles Ave. E location.

Green said that the TTC had advised moving the stop to a new location at Steeles Ave. and Morningside Ave. in 2015, so that it could become part of the 2020 Morningside Ave. extension. “(The bus stop) was already scheduled for a review early this year as part of a broader stops review we are undertaking across the city,” he wrote.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the City of Toronto said that this fatality is being investigated under their Vision Zero — Vulnerable Road User Review process.

It will take several weeks, and will be published in a report by the end of the month.