Small tweaks won’t fix city’s big roads problem (LTR)

City council asked to consider safety changes to two deadly Toronto roads, Nov. 4

City Hall’s approach to road safety appears to be: “someone dies, take action,” instead of “take action, no one dies.”

So although Gilbert Ngabo’s article about proposed changes to two streets with recent tragedies is hopeful, the underlying problem is ignored. Toronto’s Vision Zero plan failed precisely because it didn’t commit funding commensurate with the fundamental problem of a road system that dates from the 1950s and that prioritizes the movement of as many cars as possible, as fast as possible.

 Our 5,600-km road system can’t be fixed with ad hoc measures that respond to tragedies, it needs an overhaul that requires at least a tenfold increase in road safety spending. Fortunately, redesigning streets to reduce motor traffic and motor speeds aligns perfectly with goals to address the climate crisis.
Albert Koehl, Toronto