Toronto police still struggling 8 months into the King Street pilot project

July 18th, 2018  |  Auto

Even though it has been 8 months since the King Street pilot project got underway, the Toronto policy are still having trouble enforcing the new road rules.

Since the project began last November, Toronto police have handed out 6,642 tickets to drivers not following the new rules of the road. However, it is believed that the number would be much higher if they we able to have officers stationed at ever King Street intersection.

"The reality is we will never stop everybody," said Toronto Police Const. Clinton Stibbe. "It is impossible, unless we put up physical barriers such as jersey walls or jersey barriers where you physically stop cars."

Despite their efforts, Stibbe believes that the traffic violations will continue to be a problem.

"These types of things are going to continue to happen, even if we had officers enforcing here 24/7," Stibbe said.

However, ticket issues aside, many are happy with how the project has progressed.

"I absolutely love it, because it just makes everything flow easier and it takes me less time for me to get where I need to go," said Diana Zicarelli.

Zicarelli is part of the Toronto population who rides the King St street car everyday. For her, and many others, the project has help to cut her daily commutes down by half. She does acknowledge the hardships it has put on drivers and subsequently Toronto police.

"I can see from the perspective of people that drive, or cabs, or even the businesses around, why they would probably feel differently about it."