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Pedestrians bear brunt of fatal traffic accidents
JAMES RUSK
Just over half the people -- 30 of 57 -- who died in fatal traffic accidents on Toronto streets last year were on foot, according to data compiled by the city.
Indeed, when one watches walkers taking risks to cross Toronto's busy streets, "it is a miracle that we don't have a pedestrian killed every day," said Toronto police Constable Blair Falkinson of the traffic safety division.
If there is a typical traffic death in Toronto, it is an elderly person who is killed trying to cross a street mid-block -- 21 of the 30 pedestrian fatalities were mid-block and 12 of the 30 were seniors.
Last year's data also show that the city continues to be caught in a well-established pattern in which about the same number of people die in traffic accidents each year as die in homicides and about half the traffic deaths are pedestrians.
The number of traffic fatalities has declined annually for the past five years, but Constable Falkinson said it would be wrong to draw the conclusion that the streets are getting safer.
"There are too many factors to bring into the equation. Look at the winters we've been having," he said.
For another thing, the numbers can bounce around from year to year. The peak number of 97 traffic deaths, in 2002, came after a year in which 52 people died.
He added that while the data also show there were only three alcohol-related fatalities last year, down from 13 in 2005, the number of life-threatening accidents involving alcohol rose sharply to 20 in 2006 from eight in 2005.
The decline in the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths is more a product of improved life-saving technology on vehicles, such as air bags, than safer drivers on the roads, Constable Falkinson suggested.
All of last year's fatal traffic accidents were single deaths. The last time there were no multiple-fatality accidents on city streets was in 1996. (The data do not cover roads, such as Highway 401, that are patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police.)
The city ended the year with three unsolved hit-and-run fatalities added to its books, said Detective Paul Lobsinger of traffic services.
Two of those cases happened on the same day:
On March 11, at Dundas Street West and Bloor Street, Jure Kozina, 69, was killed;
Also on March 11, at Sheppard Avenue East and Morningside Avenue, a motorcyclist turning against a red light was hit and killed by a southbound car that fled the scene;
On Oct. 29, at Highway 27 and Humber College Boulevard, Andres Maldonado, 19, was hit by a vehicle that fled.
Dating back to 1999, these three bring to a dozen the number of unsolved fatal collisions, including the 2004 accident that took the life of Thomas Tsubouchi, the father of former provincial cabinet minister David Tsubouchi.
Det. Lobsinger estimated that there were about 900 personal-injury accidents and 5,000 accidents overall last year in which a driver failed to remain at the scene.
Pedestrians bear brunt of fatal traffic accidents
JAMES RUSK
Just over half the people -- 30 of 57 -- who died in fatal traffic accidents on Toronto streets last year were on foot, according to data compiled by the city.
Indeed, when one watches walkers taking risks to cross Toronto's busy streets, "it is a miracle that we don't have a pedestrian killed every day," said Toronto police Constable Blair Falkinson of the traffic safety division.
If there is a typical traffic death in Toronto, it is an elderly person who is killed trying to cross a street mid-block -- 21 of the 30 pedestrian fatalities were mid-block and 12 of the 30 were seniors.
Last year's data also show that the city continues to be caught in a well-established pattern in which about the same number of people die in traffic accidents each year as die in homicides and about half the traffic deaths are pedestrians.
The number of traffic fatalities has declined annually for the past five years, but Constable Falkinson said it would be wrong to draw the conclusion that the streets are getting safer.
"There are too many factors to bring into the equation. Look at the winters we've been having," he said.
For another thing, the numbers can bounce around from year to year. The peak number of 97 traffic deaths, in 2002, came after a year in which 52 people died.
He added that while the data also show there were only three alcohol-related fatalities last year, down from 13 in 2005, the number of life-threatening accidents involving alcohol rose sharply to 20 in 2006 from eight in 2005.
The decline in the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths is more a product of improved life-saving technology on vehicles, such as air bags, than safer drivers on the roads, Constable Falkinson suggested.
All of last year's fatal traffic accidents were single deaths. The last time there were no multiple-fatality accidents on city streets was in 1996. (The data do not cover roads, such as Highway 401, that are patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police.)
The city ended the year with three unsolved hit-and-run fatalities added to its books, said Detective Paul Lobsinger of traffic services.
Two of those cases happened on the same day:
On March 11, at Dundas Street West and Bloor Street, Jure Kozina, 69, was killed;
Also on March 11, at Sheppard Avenue East and Morningside Avenue, a motorcyclist turning against a red light was hit and killed by a southbound car that fled the scene;
On Oct. 29, at Highway 27 and Humber College Boulevard, Andres Maldonado, 19, was hit by a vehicle that fled.
Dating back to 1999, these three bring to a dozen the number of unsolved fatal collisions, including the 2004 accident that took the life of Thomas Tsubouchi, the father of former provincial cabinet minister David Tsubouchi.
Det. Lobsinger estimated that there were about 900 personal-injury accidents and 5,000 accidents overall last year in which a driver failed to remain at the scene.