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Road Safety & Vision Zero Plan

crs1026 said:
Too much time spent on computer on a lazy long weekend....

I just had to do some data mining on those numbers. Here's my compilation - I highlighted some of the outriding data points. I don't know if there is an actual statistical significance, but the numbers are interesting.

I would theorise that GTA drivers are all pretty much the same, and the differences in numbers are the product of differences in enforcement rather than actual driving differences. The only exceptions I can think of are speed (which will be different the further one gets from downtown Toronto) and maybe stunt driving (again, more open roads in the burbs). I had expected that different practices with red light and speed cameras might produce differences, but these aren't that great.

The biggest difference I could spot is the very low number of tickets issued in Mississauga... a very big difference between Brampton and Mississauga, despite being enforced by the same police force.

Food for thought.

- Paul

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Interesting.. I wish you could break out police-initiated speeding fines and camera fines as they have very different effective punishments (with police fines impacting insurance and points), but based on that table, Toronto has almost double the rate of issuing speeding fines over the rest of the GTA at about 120 speeding tickets per 1,000 people.. Mississauga issues just 25!

The provincial average is about 60/1000 people.. so Toronto issues speeding tickets at exactly double the rate of the province as a whole.

I suspect the existence of speed cameras is a big contributing factor to these differences - Toronto's cameras issue literally thousands of tickets a month. Does Mississauga not have speed cameras? York Region also has unusually low speed ticket issuance rates (39/1000 people), and I know they have at least some cameras. Makes me suspect that YRP conduct basically 0 speed enforcement themselves with the cameras making up most of it.
 
I might just be talking out my ass but I think in general our road building design standards are still out of date in the US and Canada. It would be worth looking into the "Sustainable Safety" approach that the Dutch use. And like actually do it not just say "well we will look at it and take inspiration so that we can implement our own solution tailored to a Canadian road", because in reality that means "we are not going to do it."

It is not just about building bike paths, it's about separating diffrent road functions. Highways should be highways. Streets should be streets. And collector roads should connect these two together. But here our collector roads pretend to be streets and have lots of businesses on them. There are always people entering the road from every which way. This is not safe for anyone.
We need to strive for "Homogeneity" in our road design. Fast moving cars going long distance go here, slow moving cars going short distances there, roads to connect these uses. Bikes go in bike paths, not in the roads separated by a white line. And of course, we need sidewalks.

I think in North America we have the chance to sort of... cheat if you will. Because we have been so bad at this that there are large numbers of roads that lack even sidewalks, we can say "well sidewalks are too expensive but how about we give you a nice paved "Multi Use Pathway™". It is still not great but at least it's a legal place to cycle and will help increase the % of people cycling. When it gets so popular that the walkers start complaining about too many cyclists, that's when you will get your cycle paths!!
 
I agree that we could more or less adopt Dutch standards and be far better off. It would take a generation or two to fully update our infrastructure.

However, I would not make a failure to get all the way to bright be an excuse not to do anything. MUPs are vastly better than painted bicycle gutters in a suburban environment., Peel/Mississauga has been making very good progress building out a network of MUPs (including many signalized crossrides) on major arterials so it is becoming much more comfortable and safe to ride. As we get to high cycling volumes, it will be easier to make the argument to widen these further to provide clearly delineated pedestrian and cycling space.
 
Apparently if you are running for city councillor and engage the city, they'll fix a speed bump in a few weeks, otherwise you can expect to wait for four years.
www.blogto.com

Someone reported a damaged Toronto street to 311 and was told to wait 4 years

Locked public bathrooms, water fountains left off through blazing hot spring months, and shoddy, cracked, and broken infrastructure are all familia...
www.blogto.com www.blogto.com
 
evandyk said:
Apparently if you are running for city councillor and engage the city, they'll fix a speed bump in a few weeks, otherwise you can expect to wait for four years.
www.blogto.com

Someone reported a damaged Toronto street to 311 and was told to wait 4 years

Locked public bathrooms, water fountains left off through blazing hot spring months, and shoddy, cracked, and broken infrastructure are all familia...
www.blogto.com www.blogto.com
Click to expand...
I've reported stuff to 311 before. I've had dumping on city property removed in a couple of weeks. The laneway by my house patched in days. Incorrect speed limit signs changed in a couple of days. And with a malfunctioning crosswalk or pedestrian signal, they've been there within hours.

This looks more like a snafu than reality.
 
picard102 said:
Ya, they have been pretty quick to respond to my reports.
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Yes, I think the 311 time-lines are often 'worst case' and routine matters are generally dealt with very efficiently. The problems are sometimes more complex than they appear; I reported a need for 30KM speed sign a while ago and it turned out that that block of the street had (inadvertently) not had it's limit changed when surrounding areas had their limits reduced so a by-law had to be passed or amended to fix that before the signage could be installed. It took about 4 months and, if I remember right, the estimate was 3 years.
 
I just noticed this new speed sign in the middle of Lower Sherbourne just south of The Esplanade. Not a bad idea.

IMG_1065[1].JPG
 
^Pro tip: Those things dislodge (and disappear) really easily during snowplow season.

They do seem to slow auto traffic, but if the road has minimal allowance for cyclists, they actually create a hazard because motorists have less ability to move over to give cyclists their fair space.

A pretty high maintenance item, I don’t know if there is a standard governing where the City places them, I suspect it’s mostly where local residents make noise.

- Paul
 
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