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The announcement of a new Toronto road safety plan on Monday which would more than double the existing budget for the next five years has been overshadowed by controversy over whether its objective of reducing serious collisions with pedestrians and cyclists by 20% in ten years was ambitious enough.
Sixty-five people were killed on Toronto's roads last year, a ten-year high, including 39 pedestrians and four cyclists, and if this year's trends continued 2016's pedestrian death toll would be higher still.
Cyclists add an average of three deaths and 54 serious injuries annually
Looking at the figures provided by the city of Toronto, however, which take into consideration serious injuries as well as fatalities, if anything there seems to be steady improvement, and it is hard to conclude a clear pattern on deaths from three years of higher fatalities.
Nonetheless, there are major North American cities which have more ambitious plans to tackle pedestrian deaths. In 2008, New York City announced a plan to reduce traffic fatalities by half by 2030, and is spending an additional $115m this year on traffic safety measures. By contrast the city of Toronto plans to add an average of an extra $8m a year to its road safety budget over the next five years.
The measures that are being proposed in the Toronto plan include "pedestrian safety corridors" (see map) where deaths and injuries are highest. In these corridors, traffic would be slowed, traffic lights would be changed to improve flow, pedestrian crossing markings would be made more prominent, and even right turns on red could be banned. Lower speed limits are also proposed for 18 segments to make speeds consistent on the same road.
A high proportion of those killed in collisions are elderly - the city will look at re-timing traffic signals and pedestrian crossing times near facilities for older adults and schools to give pedestrians more time to cross. There are nine pedestrian crossings with "advanced green" where the walk signal is given a few seconds before drivers get a green light - this is to be expanded to 20 additional intersections a year, and a pilot program will also look at offering this on cycle lanes.
In addition, Toronto is pressing ahead with consultations around what it calls TOCore - an overarching plan for the city's downtown area which takes into account its rapid growth. One of its stated objectives is, "planning for a more walkable Downtown with a focus on pedestrian safety, comfort, accessibility and connectivity", which would clearly have knock-on benefits for the road safety plan and would not come out of the safety plan budget. One of the first places this new vision will come into focus is King Street. Improving transit on King Street is one of the top ten priorities for the city's planners - it is the busiest surface transit route in the city, carrying almost 70,000 transit riders on an average weekday. The City hopes to implement changes to the street as a pilot study by mid-2017.
There are discussions already underway about safe and efficient streets and King Street transit changes in our forums - please join them!
For an international road safety comparison see below and click on this for an interactive version.
