Toronto road safety plan gets green light

July 16th, 2016  |  Auto

Toronto city council has spoken loudly and clearly: The city’s streets are not safe enough and things need to change – now.

On Thursday, council unanimously approved a 5-year, $80-million plan to expand its road safety plan. This newly launched initiative is set to include enforcement, educational, and engineering measures, in an effort to address the growing number of fatalities and serious incidents happening on Toronto’s streets. Already this year, 1 cyclist and 22 pedestrians have been killed on the city’s streets, putting the city on track to equal last year’s fatality number of 43.

The new plan would include lower speed limits on particularly deadly roads and newly minted pedestrian zones and intersections. Councilor Jaye Robinson, chair of the public works committee, explained that the new budget will allow the city to be “very aggressive” in enforcing road safety.

The plan is in place. What remains to be seen is how well integrated it will be and, ultimately, how effective it will be. Here’s hoping this facelift will succeed in making Toronto’s streets safer for those of us who use them.