Grim reminder to be safe

[attach]1215[/attach]A recent string of fatal collisions, including one that took the life of a 60-year-old woman at a midtown intersection, is serving as a grim reminder to both pedestrians and drivers to be careful on Toronto roads.

An area resident was crossing Eglinton Avenue at Mt. Pleasant Road, heading southbound on a green light just before 7 a.m. Jan. 18 when a TTC bus turning right onto Eglinton East struck her. The woman was on her way to work at the nearby Sobeys grocery store on Mt. Pleasant. She died at the scene.

On Jan. 20, a 43-year-old woman died after being hit by a van on Dufferin Avenue near Eglinton.

The next day, a man in his twenties was fatally struck on Danforth Avenue, near Broadview Avenue.

Although the incident at Eglinton and Mt. Pleasant is still under investigation as of press time, Traffic Sergeant Tim Burroughs said it appeared to be human error and called it a grave mistake on the driver’s part. The driver is a 57-year-old man described as a seasoned professional.

Burroughs said that intersection in particular isn’t considered a problematic spot for pedestrians.

Police reconstructionists investigating a collision will typically note problems they see with an area’s design and infrastructure in reports filed with the city.

But at this urban intersection, there are plenty of traffic signals and a zebra crossing for pedestrians, Burroughs pointed out.
What the incident highlights, he said, is the simple but serious problem of our day-to-day lack of awareness when using Toronto’s roads and sidewalks.

“It just takes that momentary lapse in attention and care that can turn the safest intersection in the world into a deathtrap,” he said.

Burroughs said he’s hoping the streak is a short-term anomaly rather than a trend.

Police are working with the Toronto Area Safety Coalition, a group that aims to address issues of public safety and reduce the number of injuries and deaths from injuries occurring annually.

With a recently launched program called iNavigait, the coalition is waging an information campaign by delivering presentations in
schools and seniors’ homes.

It’s a matter of reaching out to the wider population.

“The more people we have aware of what’s going on, the more people will hopefully take a second look, take that glance, that precautionary note to themselves and control their own actions,” he said. “It’s not rocket science we’re talking about here.”