Toronto police officer stops 3 distracted drivers — all on their cellphones — at the same time

On Monday afternoon, Toronto police officer Kirk Papadopoulos was parked on a curbside near Avenue Road and Davenport Road in his unmarked car when he stopped three distracted drivers within the span of about 30 seconds.

Papadopoulos said he saw a vehicle rolled up beside him and noticed a distracted driver.

Camillien-Houde Way, the road that winds up Montreal’s iconic Mount Royal, will be closed to most vehicles, the mayor of Montreal announced Wednesday.

Mayor Valérie Plante presented what she called an “ambitious vision” for the road at a news conference on Wednesday. It will be reserved for pedestrians and cyclists but emergency vehicles will be able to use it when needed, she said. 

“We’re taking out the asphalt and we’re putting in trees,” she said.

Over the summer, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority held meetings to discuss how to organize its congestion pricing toll for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street…

…The fury around congestion pricing is part of a larger debate that has animated a great deal of big city politics of late: Who owns the streets? The public right of way can occupy as much as one-third of the land in big U.S. cities, and various residents have begun to ask if there might be better things to do with all that territory than moving and storing cars.

In 2020, the Avenue Road Safety Coalition made a video to illustrate the safety issues posed by the narrow sidewalks in the 6-lane section of Avenue Rd. between Bloor Street and St. Clair Avenue. We spoke to many residents, business owners and local residents’ association members about the problems and potential solutions.