This year, the city of Toronto is making it clear it is committed to making our roads safer by adopting a Vision Zero Safety Plan. This is a multi-national road traffic safety initiative that started in Sweden back in 1997.

Under the leadership of Toronto’s Mayor, John Tory, the city will implement 45 new or enhanced measures targeted at eliminating fatalities and reducing serious injuries. This will include: creating seniors safety zones, installing red light cameras at 76 new locations, increasing the number of accessible pedestrian signals, improving safety measures at dangerous intersections, reducing speed limits on certain roads and expanding the school & the mobile ‘Watch Your Speed’ programs.

OUR VISION:

At Pace, we think all efforts to raise road safety awareness and lessen the risks of accidents for road users (pedestrians, cyclists and motorists) are moves in the right direction.

Every day in Toronto, the city faces huge traffic problems.  Drivers throughout the GTA and surrounding suburbs create heavy traffic congestion during the morning and evening commutes into the city.  Commute times are getting longer and the rush hours in the mornings and evenings are being extended.  Longer commute times can lead to frustration and the rise of impatient drivers. At times, the impatience can lead to unsafe driving, like taking a left turn just after a traffic light turns red or weaving across lanes to overtake cars

For all of us, patience and awareness are the biggest virtues when it comes to road safety. If you haven’t yet read our blog series on road safety (for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians) you can do so here.

Ultimately, no matter what new rules are introduced, users of the road need to respect each other. We’ll never fully stop every irresponsible driver out there, but with Vision Zero 2017 we may be able to catch more of them.