Road Safety & Vision Zero Plan

[Max Sterling]

I still find it difficult to believe how many people can get hit by a several thousand pound, large moving object that apparently can be like a ninja somehow and sneak up on people and ambush them?

I mean seriously outside of being legally blind, not of sound mental mind or fairly rare occurances like a car running onto a sidewalk and hitting people there, I truly don't know how any normal, alert and aware person who takes their time crossing a road could get hit? We try and implement all these measures and rules to keep pedestrians safe and yet we can't get people to do the simplest and easiest thing that would drastically lower pedestrian injuries and deaths. Namely getting people to simply turn their heads in all directions while they're crossing the road. Simple, costs nothing but a few seconds of a person's time and extremely effective and can be implemented immediately if only people would get into the habit of doing so.

 

[ADRM]

I still find it difficult to believe how many people can get hit by a several thousand pound, large moving object that apparently can be like a ninja somehow and sneak up on people and ambush them?

I mean seriously outside of being legally blind, not of sound mental mind or fairly rare occurances like a car running onto a sidewalk and hitting people there, I truly don't know how any normal, alert and aware person who takes their time crossing a road could get hit? We try and implement all these measures and rules to keep pedestrians safe and yet we can't get people to do the simplest and easiest thing that would drastically lower pedestrian injuries and deaths. Namely getting people to simply turn their heads in all directions while they're crossing the road. Simple, cheap and extremely effective and can be implemented immediately if only people would get into the habit of doing so.

No, you are wrong.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I still find it difficult to believe how many people can get hit by a several thousand pound, large moving object that apparently can be like a ninja somehow and sneak up on people and ambush them?

I mean seriously outside of being legally blind, not of sound mental mind or fairly rare occurances like a car running onto a sidewalk and hitting people there, I truly don't know how any normal, alert and aware person who takes their time crossing a road could get hit? We try and implement all these measures and rules to keep pedestrians safe and yet we can't get people to do the simplest and easiest thing that would drastically lower pedestrian injuries and deaths. Namely getting people to simply turn their heads in all directions while they're crossing the road. Simple, costs nothing but a few seconds of a person's time and extremely effective and can be implemented immediately if only people would get into the habit of doing so.

I find it difficult to believe how despite all the tests, signage and warnings that drivers can still be utterly unaware of their surroundings, speed and hit slow-moving pedestrians (or end up in a streetcar tunnel, on that matter). I mean, shouldn't the operator of a large, several thousand pound moving object at high speed be a little bit more aware of what their mistakes can cost?

AoD

 

[Max Sterling]

I find it difficult to believe how despite all the tests, signage and warnings that drivers can still be utterly unaware of their surroundings, speed and hit slow-moving pedestrians (or end up in a streetcar tunnel, on that matter). I mean, shouldn't the operator of a large, several thousand pound moving object at high speed be a little bit more aware of what their mistakes can cost?

Drivers should absolutely be more aware of pedestrians when they're making turns and take care not to hit them. Otherwise drivers should keep their focus on the road ahead of them and what's happening immediately around their vehicles. Likewise pedestrians should take more responsibility for their own safety when they have the most to lose in a vehicle/pedestrian collusion.

We continually talk about how drivers are pretty damn bad in Toronto, so again I ask if you know the threat exists, why aren't people taking more measures to safeguard their own lives especially when its so ridiculously easy to do? Ask yourself what's quicker and easier to do? Changing the behavior of thousands of drivers or changing your own behavior when crossing the road to simply look around more often and making sure the way is clear before you cross?

I just don't understand how anyone can complain about how crap drivers are and then turn around and inexplicably trust those same drivers with your life. That makes no sense to me. 'Toronto drivers suck! But I'll continue to trust them with my life and hope they won't hit me'. Like WTF kind of logic is that?!?!! ?

 

[ADRM]

I just don't understand how anyone can complain about how crap drivers are and then turn around and inexplicably trust those same drivers with your life. That makes no sense to me. 'Toronto drivers suck! But I'll continue to trust them with my life and hope they won't hit me'. Like WTF kind of logic is that?!?!! ?

The operative logic is “drivers do a ton of illegal shit that regularly kills or maims other humans and they should be held to account for their actions.”

Give your head a shake.

Also, not for nothing, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you’re not acting in bad faith but are simply approaching this from a place of complete ignorance, so you should know that it is a fact that police data shows that vulnerable road users in Toronto are not at fault in the majority of collisions in which they are killed or seriously injured.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I just don't understand how anyone can complain about how crap drivers are and then turn around and inexplicably trust those same drivers with your life. That makes no sense to me. 'Toronto drivers suck! But I'll continue to trust them with my life and hope they won't hit me'. Like WTF kind of logic is that?!?!! ?

Toronto drivers suck, I need to walk to my workplace or whatever, and I can't even count on me having the right of way to protect me even if I take basic precautions. That's the "WTF kind of logic" you're referring to Eventually the odds catch up with you and people die.

Put it another way, given you know that Toronto has crap drivers, would you blame the victim if there are other drivers on the same highway you're on and you're the one who got hit and killed/maimed because you didn't practice exemplar defensive driving (which few does on our 400 series highways - or frankly anywhere else?). Nevermind getting killed/maimed - drivers would blow their gasket if their bumper gets a scratch in that scenario.

AoD

 

[crs1026]

^The data has to be broken down into pedestrians attempting to cross at a marked crossing, pedestrians attempting to cross at an unmarked location, and pedestrians struck while not in the act of crossing. Different variables will be in operation in each of these situations.

I am both a driver and a pedestrian, and having seen both settings, all I can conclude is - it’s a jungle out there. When one hears of an incident, no one should assume that a pedestrian was a highly visible and predictably-moving object following a discernable path at a constant rate of speed. Nor should anyone assume that a driver is alert, focussed on the task, and behaving in accordance with conventional and well known rules of the road. That’s why police investigations can take days to complete. It’s complicated.

Anyone who reacts to the report of an event before the police have completed their investigation is an idiot making unwarranted assumptions. And since the police seldom release their eventual conclusions, other than sometimes to report whether charges were laid, even making the same assumptions later may also be faulty. We need much more thorough review and documentation of causal factors before this discussion is anything more than “second rate social media virtue signalling and blaming the other guy”.

- Paul

 

[PinkLucy]

Deadly by design: Supertest Road

On Tuesday, January 21, a 26-year-old woman was struck and killed by the driver of a tractor-trailer at the corner of Supertest Road and Alness Street in North York. According to police, the truck …

seanmarshall.ca

 

[Towered]

Deadly by design: Supertest Road

On Tuesday, January 21, a 26-year-old woman was struck and killed by the driver of a tractor-trailer at the corner of Supertest Road and Alness Street in North York. According to police, the truck …

seanmarshall.ca

I worked a block away from there for a couple of years. It really is a horrific area for pedestrians. Even with this tragic death, I have zero faith that the city will make any improvements.

 

[tiffer24]

A man has sustained "very serious" injuries after being struck by a vehicle at Lawrence Avenue East and The Donway in the Don Mills area, Toronto police say.

https://twitter.com/CP24

UPDATE: Police say that a pedestrian struck by a vehicle near Lawrence Avenue East and The Donway has succumbed to their injuries.

 

[Max Sterling]

The operative logic is “drivers do a ton of illegal shit that regularly kills or maims other humans and they should be held to account for their actions.”

Fine. Drivers should be held responsible for their actions that cause pedestrian injuries and deaths. That's fair. HOWEVER how come pedestrians aren't held responsible for all their stupid and idiotic actions that often cause their own injuries and deaths? Why do people see it as wrong to ask pedestrians to take simple, easy steps that any person should know by heart that can potentially save themselves from harm?

And I'll never understand people who argue that pedestrians having the right of way means they can then throw common sense out the window. I mean WHO CARES if you 'have the right of way' if you're seriously injured or dead? Do you care that little about your own life that you'd rather be right than safe and uninjured?

Also, not for nothing, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you’re not acting in bad faith but are simply approaching this from a place of complete ignorance, so you should know that it is a fact that police data shows that vulnerable road users in Toronto are not at fault in the majority of collisions in which they are killed or seriously injured.

Just because a pedestrian 'isn't found at fault' in a vehicle/pedestrian collision doesn't mean they weren't still doing something dumb/not paying attention while crossing. I've seen plenty of people at intersections where they see a green light and the pedestrian signal saying its ok for them to go and then they return to looking at their phones while crossing instead of looking around them and making sure the way is still clear for them while they're crossing the road.

So yes they had the right of way, but that doesn't mean they weren't still dumb for assuming that having the lights in their favor means that they also get a magical shield that somehow protects them from getting hit. I bet you a million dollars right now if all pedestrians just took a few seconds out of their precious lives each time to make sure the way was clear before and during them crossing a road that pedestrian/vehicle accidents would dramatically fall without doing anything else.

 

[Divas S.]

Fine. Drivers should be held responsible for their actions that cause pedestrian injuries and deaths. That's fair. HOWEVER how come pedestrians aren't held responsible for all their stupid and idiotic actions that often cause their own injuries and deaths? Why do people see it as wrong to ask pedestrians to take simple, easy steps that any person should know by heart that can potentially save themselves from harm?

And I'll never understand people who argue that pedestrians having the right of way means they can then throw common sense out the window. I mean WHO CARES if you 'have the right of way' if you're seriously injured or dead? Do you care that little about your own life that you'd rather be right than safe and uninjured?



Just because a pedestrian 'isn't found at fault' in a vehicle/pedestrian collision doesn't mean they weren't still doing something dumb/not paying attention while crossing. I've seen plenty of people at intersections where they see a green light and the pedestrian signal saying its ok for them to go and then they return to looking at their phones while crossing instead of looking around them and making sure the way is still clear for them while they're crossing the road.

So yes they had the right of way, but that doesn't mean they weren't still dumb for assuming that having the lights in their favor means that they also get a magical shield that somehow protects them from getting hit. I bet you a million dollars right now if all pedestrians just took a few seconds out of their precious lives each time to make sure the way was clear before and during them crossing a road that pedestrian/vehicle accidents would dramatically fall without doing anything else.

People don't blame pedestrians for dying on the roads because;

a) they have right of way in most cases and therefor the driver wasn't following the rules

b) drivers are held to a higher standard because they are in control of deciding to run somebody over

c) unlike you, most people don't victim blame and have an emotion called empathy.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

So yes they had the right of way, but that doesn't mean they weren't still dumb for assuming that having the lights in their favor means that they also get a magical shield that somehow protects them from getting hit. I bet you a million dollars right now if all pedestrians just took a few seconds out of their precious lives each time to make sure the way was clear before and during them crossing a road that pedestrian/vehicle accidents would dramatically fall without doing anything else.

Let me replace “pedestrian” with another vehicle with the right of way. If you are the one getting hit that instance as a driver, you won’t be saying the same thing - you’d be suing the other party.

And also, since when is leaving the scene of an accident "a thing"?

AoD

 

[tiffer24]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1222889157430861824

 

[TossYourJacket]

I bet you a million dollars right now if all pedestrians just took a few seconds out of their precious lives each time to make sure the way was clear before and during them crossing a road that pedestrian/vehicle accidents would dramatically fall without doing anything else.

I'd bet you a million dollars that if drivers took a few seconds out of their precious lives to remember they are driving a multi-ton machine that can easily kill someone and maybe did things like, drive at the speed limit, or not run red lights, or not look at their phones or maybe actually look if there's a damn pedestrian on the road that pedestrian/vehicle accidents would dramatically fall without doing anything else.

Your victim blaming is ridiculous.