blotto649

The driver pled guilty and was charged in this incident. Regardless of her age and where her parents were, the driver DID NOT come to a complete stop at the intersection, glanced left for oncoming traffic, and proceed with his right turn even though she was crossing from the right. This is a habit I see every day on the roads in Toronto.

IMHO, the 2 biggest problems are poor driver education/testing, and lack of proper enforcement. I work in Leaside and commute north on Bayview every morning at 70 kp/h in a 60 zone, I'm ALWAYS the slowest car out there, by a significant margin. Yes, police do set up speed traps there quite often, but it's clearly not enough of a deterrent.

The 30 kp/h limit is an incorrect reaction to a problem of speeding on residential streets. Everyone here is right when they say that people often bomb down at 65, even when there are speed bumps. Modern suspensions make those things disappear. If people were educated enough to understand the repercussions of a child suddenly running out between 2 parked cars, maybe they would slow down. If people were penalized - HEAVILY - for speeding on a street like that, maybe it would make them think twice next time.

Drivers are always going to push the limit of what's acceptable. The problem is that, over time, the bar of what's acceptable gets higher and higher, so drivers keep pushing further and further. I live at a 4-way stop sign intersection in Toronto, a popular one to cut through during rush hour. If I had the authority, I could easily write-up a hundred tickets in 3-4 hours for failure to stop, as coming to a complete stop at those signs is the exception EVERY DAY.

Just saying...

JimV8

I suppose simply because of the thousands of hours behind the wheel i've witnessed all manner of inattentive driving.

Right turns on red light - driver looks right then focuses left looking for an opportunity and moves forward without re-checking right. KABOOM into the car in front whose driver thought it wasn't safe to go. Also saw a driver collide with a cyclist in the same situation who was on the left sidewalk going in the opposite direction. In that event the driver said well she only has a scratch so i'm leaving. I said if you don't report it now I will. She did.

One of the craziest was a driver making a right from a stop sign just when the car coming from the left decided to change to the right lane. KABOOM both cars went into the air and when they came down bounced all over the road.

Another, although more a parking thing. In Oakville a driver paralled into street parking but misjudged the distance and nudged the car behind. Instead of leaving it at that she went forward and floored it colliding with the car in front. She could have called it a day but put it in reverse and floored it into the previously injured car. At that point with steam coming from the motor hood she parked it and walked away.

Over the years possibly as result of seeing said carnage I've become a cautious driver and expect the worst.

aviography

Were you following me around Jim?!

What you described first happened to me twice, I fully admit not rechecking before I let out the clutch part, but both times there was lots of room for the driver ahead of me to proceed, in fact in both cases the drivers started turning then puts on the brakes for gawd knows what reasons, since there were more than enough space for both him and I to clear that stop sign we were sitting at, indecisive drivers I guess.......

I've learned to never trust the driver ahead of me to always do the logical thing, since some of them just don't.

In the second example, I knew there were no pedestrians on the side walk to my right as I had just verified visually a couple of seconds before, however the cyclist came flying down the sidewalk against the traffic flow, and tripped over the fender and hood of my car just as I started to move but slammed on the brakes when I caught this blur in the corner of my eye.

He put a couple of dents on my car, the chain of his bicycle came off and he scraped his knees. He was pissed off, I was pissed off, but knew I was probably more in the wrong than he was in the wrong. At the end he left without involving the police after I helped him put the chain back on his bike and a bandage on his knee.

I went to the police station many months later to ask where does the law stand in this scenario? I was told the cyclist was in the wrong, since the bicycle is considered a vehicle in that scenario, and he was booting along against the traffic flow. I still don't know if the cyclist would have been charged, or if I would also be charged had the police attended the scene.

aviography

As I worked on my car in the garage today with the garage door open, I heard the unmistakably sound of sustained full throttle acceleration coming from the far end of the street towards the main street.

It was a V6 powered newer Altima flashing by probably going at 80 Km/H being driven by an young adult male, obviously fully enjoying the 270 horsepower "rocket" on this residential street.

I didn't have time to go out to catch the license plate and report it, but I was seriously pissed off.

Speed limit signs are going to do f^ck-all for these retards, speed bumps will be a pain even at the posted speed limits and cause havocs to snowplows during winter months, I guess speed humps will be more appropriate compromise.

Imo000

No one comes to a full stop at a stop sign, not even the Police. Most stop signs should be replaced by yield signs. Also, most all-way stops are "political stop signs" that are not warranted and are put in by polititians becuase residents that think they are traffic engineers demand it. Then, when these all-way stop signs increase the speed, they screen that the speed limit must be lowered...... After that, when they start getting speeding tickets, they are pissed off about that too. Speed limits are only effective if the road is designed for it. Anything else will not work and I can guarantee you that.

Completely eliminating right turns on red will make pedestrians safer. Europe doesn't allow right turns on red, North America should learn from them.

jumper5836

This is completely stupid idea, pedestrians should take off their blinders and air buds and pay attention to crossing the street, look both ways before you cross and don't expect someone to stop just because you step out. Protect you selves and don't expect it to be taken for granted you have the right away.

Bacura

And that is why 7 year olds need to cross with an adult or older sibling. They don't have that awareness.

Imo000

Yes and no. The drivers many time pay more attention to their left, looking at the traffic they are trying to merge into, then to the right where the pedestrians might be crossing. When a gap in the traffic occurs, they hit the gas and if there is a pedestrian in front of them, they will not see it in time. If this is a child, they will get hurt a lot more than an adult.

Imo000

I disagree. They have the awarnes if they are thought. The problem is that in North America there is very little pedestrian education when it comes to kids. They should be thought, actually drilled into them, how to safely be a pedestrian. This was the case with me in Europe. They drilled it into us, starting in kindergarten, the dangers of traffic and how a pedestrian needs to act when in traffic. We had continuos training in grade school, practical and theoretical. This does not exist here and I don't understand why.

928gt

Agreed 100%. My dad used to beat both me and my brother when we were young kids for crossing the street behind our house where cars were flying by at 80 km/h (despite the 50 km/h limit). Then one of my brother's friends got hit by a car at that same spot and died instantly. It's the only time I've actually been thankful for being spanked (OK, maybe not the only time, but certainly the only time as a result of being punished by my parents).

In some eastern European countries, there's a joke / saying that there are two kinds of pedestrians - the quick and the dead. When I went back to visit some ten yeard ago, to my absolute amazement I witnessed that even stray dogs know how to cross the streets... they will not attempt to get across until a group of pedestrians comes along and the dogs then cross in the middle of said group. If stray dogs could learn that on their own, then kids really ought to be able to be taught. I also drive through Leaside all the time at or below the speed limit, and still I cringe every time I see a basketball hoop on someone's driveway or kids playing ball hockey in the middle of the road. It is bad parenting, plain and simple.

irobertson

I live right across from an elementary school. I back out of my driveway every morning just as the parents and busses are arriving. One morning I was almost creamed by the school bus coming barreling down the narrow street with parked cars on each side. The SCHOOL BUS. The guy was doing like 40, and I had to basically zip back into my driveway in order to avoid getting hit. At 9:00 am and 3:00 pm I drive 30 on my street, coming home at 5:00, not so much. I had a guy yell at me at 7:30 one evening for going too fast. I was doing 50 on the button, and he was walking his dog OFF leash. I felt like stopping and telling him is was a STREET not an effing dog park.

hillsdonsmith

See abstract page 4. https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/...iskVsSpeed.pdf Mortality rate HBC (hit by car) 10% approx 30 kph vs 90% if 80 kph. Given current level of distraction in our cars between kids in back and all of us arsing around on Internet/electronic car toys while driving, a lot of peds prob get hit before driver even hits the brakes. We probably all think we are smarter/better drivers than we are and that while kids and dogs SHOULD be smarter, they ain't. Try Vancouver, where every ped thinks they have the inalienable right to just step off any curb at any time, dressed in the obligatory head to toe black garb, in the dark and pi$$ng rain. They I'm all for manual tranny in my P cars but the self driving car will probably make a lot of sense in cities. Cheers Mark

JTT

No different over here on the right coast. We've drilled "you have the right" into kids for years, now it's rights over physics....loosing game. I've taught my son to assume every car is out to kill you. Interestingly the same logic we used teaching people to ride motorcycles on the road.

Imo000

Except the pedestrian doesn't have the right. The only time they have the right of way is at a signalized pedestrian crossing when the walk signalnis on. I don't know who and why would drill it into kids the wrong law? There is a real push to change the HTA to give pedestrians the right of way at all ped crossings but until that happens, they don't have the right.

BIG smoke

with their hoods up, ear buds in, texting.
I grabbed a guys elbow the other day. He was Jwalking across St clair. Two lanes of traffic, two lanes of street car, and two lanes of traffic. I grabbed his elbow as he was about to walk into a 5o KPH+ 5o,ooo lb street car. Life is a heads up sport.
I always tell my boys, heads up, make eye contact, lower your hood, when crossing the street.
"Might is right".

Lowered a lot of streets to 30kph? I've noticed that too. Its been forced to lighten traffic load. But really? Every street is under construction. Eglington is a ship show with the LRT contruction. 4 lanes down to 2 thin zig zag paths. How can you not cut through a neighborhood. Perhaps 3o k will reduce the chance on an accident. Perhaps they should lower them to 0 kph ? That will certainly reduce traffic issue. They should do it over night?
Oddly, I need to move to get to work. 4ok to 3ok increases my commute time by 25%. Not getting to work? Would mean not making money. Not making money, would mean I can't pay taxes. Which would intern mean I can't make my mortgage payment. Which in turn means they take away may house.
Good news though. The new zero speed limit means they can't come get me.