Wednesday, May 12, 2010

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY : should be a main issue in this election.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/05/12/13919316.html

57 year old pedestrian hit by a van while crossing Dupont and Lansdowne.
He is the 24th pedestrian to be hurt this year and there have been fatalities as well.

Although Toronto has a Pedestrian Charter since 2002 (http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/walking/charter.htm) and has a Pedestrian Committee (http://www.toronto.ca/tpc/ ) it seems that the cycling groups have a stronger lobby at city hall and much of the decisions made about getting around in Toronto are centered on the car and transit.

Our city is growing much more dense: explosion of condominiums, multi-resident buildings compressed in areas with limited infrastructure - and we need to think about traffic gridlock as including innovations for ALL: pedestrians, cyclists, cars and public transit. A key element is also that we are an aging society and we need to think about our seniors and those with disabilities.