Working for Safe Sidewalks on Avenue Road between Bloor St. & St. Clair Ave.
Instead of doubling down on drivers which is a lose-lose game for everyone, perhaps Mr. Ford should instead be focused on making walking, cycling, and transit more attractive? After all, that’s the only proven way to reduce gridlock.
Open streets programs such as OpenStreetsTO and ActiveTO helped promote and encourage healthier, more active lifestyles by making it safer and easier for people to walk, bike, and engage with their community.
You can help to bring it back.
During the April meeting of Toronto City Council, Councillor Saxe spoke about the state of congestion in Toronto, and how best to tackle it. Here’s what Councillor Saxe had to say:
Councillor Saxe on Congestion & Bikes
For more information, read the expert testimony from the court case.
Not many things come cheap in Toronto, but there is one thing that has, until very recently, been a heck of a bargain: blocking streets for construction.
In 2022, for example, a utility contractor that wanted to close two lanes across 4.5 kilometres of Lake Shore Boulevard paid just $4,398.65 in fees to Toronto city hall’s transportation department for its month-long project.
While it might be sufficient in other cities, it’s a well-known fact that looking both ways before crossing the street in Toronto simply isn’t enough to guarantee one’s safety.
Pedestrians encounter traffic-packed roadways, narrow sidewalks and unpredictable motorists — and for kids, navigating the streets on foot can be especially intense.
For parents, the statistics for pedestrian collisions involving youth in the city can be alarming.
Documents unearthed as part of a legal challenge show the Doug Ford government received expert evidence that planned bike lane removals could worsen traffic congestion in Toronto and lead to injuries.
Thanks to the efforts of the Avenue Road Safety Coalition (ARSC) supporters, Councillor Saxe, and the Transportation Services staff, we achieved significant milestones in 2024 to enhance safety on Avenue Road between St. Clair Avenue and Bloor Street. We recognize that this year has been challenging for many due to changes in provincial government policies. Nevertheless, you stepped up to write letters, attend meetings, and present your opinions to City Committees, which were crucial in advocating for a safer Avenue Road.
We sincerely appreciate your commitment to safe, climate-friendly, and multi-modal road safety initiatives. Your continued support is crucial as we look forward to achieving our goal in 2025. We wish all our ARSC supporters and your families and friends a safe and happy holiday season and all the best for the new year!
As Toronto furiously debates bike lanes and their role in the city’s notorious gridlock, mostly missing from the discussion is a culprit that at its peak occupied almost one-fifth of the city’s road network.
Construction — for provincially managed transit projects, condo and office buildings, and utility work to support Toronto’s booming growth — closes more kilometres of roadway than bike lanes, special events or anything else. City officials say construction closures are the biggest cause of the kind of traffic backups that are angering residents and the Ford government.
The Avenue Road Safety Coalition (ARSC) is applauding recent efforts by the City of Toronto to improve road safety along Avenue Road, following a series of tragic accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists, including two major incidents — the April 30 cyclist fatality near the Avenue Road construction site and the Oct. 2 pedestrian injury at the intersection of Avenue Road and Davenport Road.
A new report from the City of Toronto shows that by far the most vulnerable road users are pedestrians.
The report says that 29 pedestrians were killed and 134 seriously injured after being struck by vehicles on Toronto’s streets in 2023. Data collected by the City also indicates the riskiest locations for pedestrians – including mid-block (uncontrolled) crossings, and intersections, particularly when drivers are turning left.
The ARSC has been and will continue to be particularly focused on pedestrian safety on Avenue Road, as we work toward implementation of further phases of the Avenue Road safety improvement plan.
Join Friends and Families for Safe Streets at Queen’s Park at 4:30 p.m. for a 5 p.m. start time. This event features speakers personally devastated by road violence, a memorial name-reading ceremony, and a candle-lit march around Queen’s Park.
Join FFSS in demanding that the provincial government not pass Bill 212 and not rip out our safest and most-used complete streets, along with preventing safe streets from being built anywhere else in the province. If our safe streets are ripped out and other municipalities are not allowed to build them, more people will be killed in crashes that would otherwise have been prevented.
Another pedestrian was seriously injured this afternoon on Avenue Road near Davenport. The collision involved a pedestrian, and three cars. One car jumped the curb onto the sidewalk. The pedestrian was transferred to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Road safety improvements on Avenue Road are scheduled to start soon, which unfortunately was not soon enough to prevent another injury.