1 week Ago
, Red light cameras get results as do speed cameras. Both catch drivers either speeding or running red lights. Why could these type of cameras not be permanently installed on perennially blocked boxes to catch and fine those responsible for causing gridlock? Police would not be necessary to write out the tickets and disrupt traffic even more.
It may not deter all but would certainly reduce this offence, especially if the fines are high enough. The city will never fix gridlock. Why? Because Toronto is broken and it has the most inconsiderate drivers I have ever seen.
I try not to drive downtown but on two occasions over the summer, I spent an hour trying to go 300 metres. The first time was on Jarvis Street going south from Front Street to the Lake Shore Boulevard, and the second was on Bay Street between the same two streets. There were times when we would not move an inch during several light cycles.
Drivers in the left lane barge their way in to the right with impunity and drivers on Lake Shore block the intersection. Add in pedestrians who are in the intersection while cars try to turn right onto the Lake Shore and you have a recipe for disaster. One fix would be to have scramble intersections and keep pedestrians out of the intersection, allowing cars to turn.
Cars get the green light going north or south, then east or west (with no pedestrians) and then pedestrians can cross in any direction with no cars. Another fix is to ticket scofflaws and to have traffic wardens at problem intersections all the time. At the very least, a solid white line needs to be painted on every street going southbound from Front to Lake Shore to deter merging (not that Toronto drivers will pay any attention).
The article states “we’re giving implicit permission for these behavioural norms to become entrenched.” We are well past that. They are already entrenched.
Lots of cities handle gridlock better than Toronto and it’s time we learn from them. Trying to ticket someone who is blocking the intersection is a logistical nightmare and will only further block the intersection. Considering the number intersections that need enforcement, a people-based solution is impractical and ineffective.
Other cities like Seattle, Wa., uses their red light cameras to catch people blocking the box. This is fast and effective solution to the problem.
Every problematic intersection in Toronto could be monitored for the cost of four cameras. While I agree that blocking intersections is a cause of worse traffic chaos, I can almost sympathize. Last year I was invited to a screening of a TIFF movie by a friend.
I gave myself three hours to travel from Lindsay, Ont. It was busy but it wasn’t until I got under the bridges at Lake Shore Boulevard that I sat. And sat.
It took me over half an hour to get through two lights. And the reason? When our light was red and some space ahead finally cleared a bit, cars would zip up the side and merge in ahead of those of us waiting. So by the time our light was green again, that section was full and not moving at all.
There needs to be better co-ordination with the lights or some other sort of solution. I’ve not been tempted to drive to Toronto again since. I couldn’t agree more with the sorry state of traffic violations and lack of ticketing.
Drivers are pushing the envelope on so many levels because they know they can get away with it. Driving through midtown Toronto to Scarborough Bluffs and back on Labour Day, I saw a driver running a red light when the pedestrian signal had come on, drivers failing to stop at stop sign (which happens regularly at the corner of my street), a driver entering a clearly marked “One-way — Do Not Enter” to get to a parking area and boxing at a busy intersection. I’m glad to hear red light cameras are making a difference for that offence and speeders are being caught by police, too.
However, there are so many other dangerous driving situations that need to be stopped to prevent serious accidents. Perhaps more traffic police can be deployed? Bad driving habits do not just exist at intersections. Drivers are routinely texting, speeding, turning right on a red light while barely slowing down, running red lights and having windows tinted so dark one cannot see the driver inside.
I have not seen any enforcement since moving to midtown some six years ago. But, I do remember the time that cyclists were indeed targeted and fined for speeding in High Park. Car drivers are king and often have minimal punishment when someone dies with them at the wheel.
According to the Toronto Police Service Public Safety Data Portal, 43,742 collisions occurred in the GTA alone in 2021. In 2022, there were 59,172. In 2023, there were 67,524.
Over two years, pedestrian injuries increased 44 per cent and cyclist injuries a staggering 467 per cent. When is this lunacy ever going to stop? Unfortunately, the question is rhetorical. We all know that it never will, simply because there is no will to stop it.
My 10th grade son, who has autism, has switched from the Toronto District School Board to the York Region District School Board because we moved to Markham, Ont. On his first day at his new high school last week, despite meeting with school representatives back in March and exchanging many emails to try to be prepared for the transition, it became clear he needed his own laptop and yet we were not told. My son does not handle breaking the rules well, so he was really stressed out.
The stopgap solution is obviously to use his cellphone, but his teachers reminded him that he was breaking another rule — cellphones are banned in the classroom in Ontario. I’m pretty frustrated that he has to go through this stress, particularly since it was avoidable. Teachers should know the cellphone ban is important, but so too are exceptions to the ban.
Please have empathy..
