NEWS

Demolition derby continues at Bayview intersection

AFTERMATH: Back door of car was smashed during accident at Bayview Ave. and Parkhurst Boulevard.
AFTERMATH: Back door of car was smashed during accident at Bayview Ave. and Parkhurst Boulevard.

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At 8:05 a.m. on Friday, May 6, I was just north of Manor Road, walking on the west side of Bayview Avenue toward Parker’s Dry Cleaners.

As the notorious intersection loomed, a grey car was nosing out from the end of Parkhurst Boulevard, awaiting a break in rush-hour traffic so as to bolt straight through to the Soudan Avenue side.

Finally a break in north-going traffic did occur and that seemed to be good enough for the driver. Obviously he made his decision to go for it before he had much of a chance to check for southbound cars.

It wasn’t even close.

The grey car struck a southbound black car driven by a woman with a young boy (who seemed about 11 years old) in the back. it hit not toward the front as you might expect, but rather on the passenger door, mangling the door and almost taking it off altogether. Had the boy been strapped in directly behind the driver, I believe he might have been severely injured or worse.

HELP: Paramedics come to the aid of the driver of a car that was hit.
HELP: Paramedics come to the aid of the driver of a car that was hit.

The paramedics, who arrived very quickly, slipped the driver into a neck-brace, hopefully just as a precautionary measure vis-à-vis whiplash either from the impact or from the force of the exploding airbag. And off to Sunnybrook Hospital they went.

A man, possibly the woman’s husband, arrived about 20 minutes after the accident. The boy appeared unharmed but shaken.

The driver of the grey car (with Quebec plates) was a man about 70 years old, who had been trying to negotiate that very tricky crossing in rush hour traffic.

I took photos and emailed some to Ward 26 councillor Jon Burnside (responsible for the east side of the intersection) and Ward 22 councillor Josh Matlow (representing for the west side). To their credit they immediately moved to expedite a formal traffic study of the intersection, including the equally problematic crosswalk.

I suggested that a “No Through Traffic: ($1,000 fine)” sign at the end of Soudan and of Parkhurst might suffice, with a bit of police enforcement.

If nothing is done, I predict someone will die at that intersection by year-end.

It’s that bad.