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Road Safety & Vision Zero Plan

Seeing that this thread has become a typical Ontario cars vs people blame game I thought I 'd post this link about what Vision Zero is.
I hope it works. This is a short vidoes about the principles of Zero Vision, although it is directed towards americans I think we could learn a lot about Vision Zero is and not.
 
John Tory, responding today to the damage and theft of Toronto's new speed cameras:

“I have no idea why anybody would be so twisted as to vandalize or steal equipment that is meant to save lives and keep people, including children safe..."
 
tiffer24 said:
John Tory, responding today to the damage and theft of Toronto's new speed cameras:

“I have no idea why anybody would be so twisted as to vandalize or steal equipment that is meant to save lives and keep people, including children safe..."
Click to expand...

They steal for the steel, and gold in them parts.
 
I hate the Millwood Bridge bike lane. Buses whizz past only inches away. There is no separation whatsoever or something that makes me "feel" safe. I'm fed up. I wrote to both councillors because this is definitely not Vision Zero. I doubt it will ever be done, or maybe in 10 years.
nobarriers.JPG
 
H4F33Z said:
I hate the Millwood Bridge bike lane. Buses whizz past only inches away. There is no separation whatsoever or something that makes me "feel" safe. I'm fed up. I wrote to both councillors because this is definitely not Vision Zero. I doubt it will ever be done, or maybe in 10 years.View attachment 229989
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Original bridge...
it-road_web.jpg

From link.

The first vehicles to cross the concrete surface (Oct. 29, 1927) were a TTC bus, the first on the new Pape route, and a bread wagon bound for Leaside. The deck was widened to support six lanes of vehicle traffic in 1969 as the city mulled extending Leslie St. south across the bridge. A major facelift and heritage status arrived in 2004.
Click to expand...
 
Note the high poles - projections had the TTC extending streetcar service across the viaduct. The Depression, plus improvements in buses available, nixed those plans. Ironically, the heavy structure meant to carry the traffic plus heavy Peter Witt streetcars made the widening to six lanes possible.
 
H4F33Z said:
I hate the Millwood Bridge bike lane. Buses whizz past only inches away. There is no separation whatsoever or something that makes me "feel" safe. I'm fed up. I wrote to both councillors because this is definitely not Vision Zero. I doubt it will ever be .done, or maybe in 10 years
View attachment 229989
Click to expand...

I actually give this a decent chance of changing. Though you're right about the fact it may take a few years.

Donlands will get its bike lane one day, affirming there is only one lane on that side coming from the south. I expect Pape's curb lanes to be bus only north of Cosburn anyway.

At that point, there certainly won't be the traffic justification for the six-lane configuration.

In truth, I'm not sure there is today. I drive this route a fair bit; and I find the choke point SB is Overlea where the left hand turn lane is too short to accommodate traffic.

If you shave one SB lane off, which you need to do in order to add a sidewalk to the west side of Millwood an/or to contemplate proper bike lanes going north of Overlea, you can then then extend the Left turn lane further north.

From the south, I find the log jam is most often Donlands NB at O'Connor with cars moving to access the DVP and no room for a right-hand turn queue.

The bridge itself moves pretty well at most times.

Take one lane away on each side, and you can have physically separated bike lanes, and wider sidewalks.
 
Depending on how proposed "Ontario Line" bridge will be designed and located between Pape Avenue and Millwood Road, maybe they could include a bicycle bridge within the infrastructure. Knowing the current (Progressive) Conservatives, that will not happen.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
The question is - why would you as a driver hit someone who is looking at their phone crossing the road at the right location at the right time? The criminality isn't them looking at the phone - it is you hitting them. You cannot count on someone to miss your vehicle if you are operating it with the expectation that the other party will yield to you when they don't have to. If you are counting on that, there is something wrong with how you drive. Now if you are talking about someone who is jaywalking and looking at their phone at the same time, that's a different story.
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We're not talking about criminality. We're talking about pedestrians doing as much as they can to protect themselves instead of being an idiot. I'm not counting on someone to miss my vehicle, I'm counting on pedestrians to HAVE A BRAIN and to do the bare minimum in keeping themselves safe. I do my part and they do their part which should be common sense.

To put it another way, why do you lock your doors when you go out for the day? Does locking your doors mean your home is 100% safe from being broken into or does that mean you're doing as much as you can to safe guard your home from being robbed? Someone could pry the windows or doors or use tools to break into your house still, but at least you're not dumb enough to leave the doors unlocked so that anyone could walk right in correct?

So if you have no problem taking measures to protect your home from robbery, why is it such a big deal to take measures to protect yourself from being hit by a car while crossing the road? In both instances you're doing what's in your power to protect yourself and your property. It takes no effort and it should be automatic to lock your doors when you leave and similarly it takes no effort and it should be automatic to look both ways before you cross a road.

Also, what is with this fixation on phones? Is that the reason why people are getting hit here in Toronto - or is it because of speeding, red-light running (and acceleration on yellow), rushing right turns, poor driving skills, etc.? Not to mention, nothing pedestrians do ever affect drivers not stopping at the scene of an accident, and yet that's becoming more prevalent. How's that?
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Phones are a major example of why pedestrians are often distracted and aren't paying attention while crossing a road. I mean seriously if a person is alert and looking around constantly while crossing the street, then how can a several thousand plus pound vehicle ever be able to sneak up on a pedestrian to hit them? Its literally impossible unless something out of the ordinary happens.
 
H4F33Z said:
I hate the Millwood Bridge bike lane. Buses whizz past only inches away. There is no separation whatsoever or something that makes me "feel" safe. I'm fed up. I wrote to both councillors because this is definitely not Vision Zero. I doubt it will ever be done, or maybe in 10 years.View attachment 229989
Click to expand...

This is what I don't understand about infrastructure design in the GTA. This definitely doesn't look or feel safe for cyclists when you have cars driving by so close to you. What I don't get is knowing this, why doesn't the city simply build out the sidewalk to include the bike lane area and then repave the entire surface with asphalt? Now instead of having a dangerous bike lane, you have a raised, separated, dual use bike/pedestrian path that makes biking much safer.

It would be a relatively quick and easy fix to turn a dangerous bike lane into a very safe bike path. Now do this everywhere in the GTA and you'll finally get some use out of a largely wasted sidewalk infrastructure that is begging to be repurposed and used.
 
^That's an eminently sensible solution for new build, but I suspect it's not that simple for an in-place bridge. For starters, the runoff drains are probably against the curb, and would have to be shifted (good for cyclists, because sewer grates are risky, but still more money spent). I also wonder about the height and proximity of the railing... it's fine for pedestrians but may be too low if you hypothesize a cyclist wiping out on the sidewalk.

The issue though is, is the allocation of width even reasonable to begin with? Right now, the bike lane is pretty much single file, because veering into the auto lane is pretty suicidal. If you shift it to the pedestrian plane, do you create the temptation to overtake? How will that impact pedestrians? (Don't underestimate the potential for cyclist-pedestrian competition for space to get ugly.... drivers aren't the only ones with attitude).

To my mind, the solution ought to be four lanes of auto space, and not six. Then do a really good job of separating all three modes. And/or, measures to limit vehicle speed. The current bridge like many major roads encourages drivers to speed up.

Even some of those flexible vertical slats might provide a bit of mental separation that would keep motorists a bit more cautious.

- Paul
 
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