Our intersections are dangerous and CAA just proved it

Christopher Hume –

Canadians are the nicest, most polite and apologetic people on Earth. Step on their toes, and they’re the ones who say sorry.

Or so we think; but when a To­rontonian gets behind the wheel of a car – or more likely an ob­scenely oversized SUV — they turn into monsters hell-bent on getting where they’re going. Nothing else matters, least of all an inconvenient pedestrian, or God forbid, a cyclist who hap­pens to be in the way and, un­forgivably, slowing them down.

Little wonder, then, that a re­port released by no less an au­thority than the Canadian Auto­mobile Association claims that, “Pedestrians and cyclists face life-threatening near misses in Canadian intersections every day….” Using cameras and ar­tificial intelligence, the study documented more than 600,000 “near misses” at 20 intersec­tions across the country during a seven-month period.

“These representative inter­sections reveal a snapshot of just how common serious near misses can be,” noted CAA’s national vice-president of public affairs, Ian Jack. “These are not isolated incidents – they’re reg­ular reminders of why we need to improve intersection safe­ty….”

None of this will come as a surprise to Torontonians who walk or ride bikes, scooters or the like. The truth about the Great White North is that it clings to badly out-dated no­tions about city streets.

When car culture is in control, the results can be deadly. Al­ternate forms of transportation have been marginalized and are, therefore, unpleasant, unreliable or downright dangerous. Chron­ically underfunded and poorly run, the TTC remains scandal­ously inadequate and unreliable.

But rather than address the more pressing issues of mobility — how we get around – subur­ban politicians and planners fo­cus on driver convenience.

With his tenuous grasp of ur­ban reality, Ontario’s fossilized premier, Doug Ford, personifies the problem. Among his most recent schemes, a plan to build a tunnel under Highway 401 from Mississauga to Markham is also his most outlandish. Un­surprisingly, the proposal elicit­ed derision, disbelief and howls of laughter from one end of the GTA to the other.

This is what can happen to a leader who views the world through the windshield of fast-moving vehicle. In Ford’s mind, bikes are for kids, pub­lic transit is for those too poor to own a car and roads are for cars, trucks and when absolute­ly necessary, buses – but under no circumstances streetcars.

Let’s not forget Ford’s threat to remove bike lanes from Toronto streets despite research show­ing that would actually worsen traffic. The point, of course, was to reassure frustrated drivers that they are still masters of the streets. Ford’s absurd and mis­guided antics underlie the truth that in Ontario the car is king.

No wonder drivers have a puffed-up sense of empower­ment. In Toronto they gleefully destroy traffic cameras, park illegally, ignore speed limits, complain endlessly and ignore anyone in their way.

As the CAA discovered, “… near misses most often involved vehicles making a right turn. More than half (55 percent of pedestrians and 50 percent of cyclists) had a close call with a vehicle. And more than a third (34 percent of pedestrians and 36 percent of cyclists) were in­volved with a left-turning vehi­cles… Extrapolated nationwide, the study reveals that one in every 770 pedestrians, and one in every 500 cyclists would ex­perience a high-risk or critical near miss – defined as an inci­dent with an 85 percent chance of causing serious injury of death.”

These pedestrians and cyclists had the right of way. If driv­ers weren’t aware of them, it’s because they weren’t looking. Though the CAA offers a se­ries of recommendations, most are obvious; pedestrians should check both ways before crossing the street, drivers should yield to pedestrians, and both should be alert and focused.

If such common-sense meas­ures prevailed, the CAA figures wouldn’t be as disturbing as they are. The law tells us that driving is a privilege, not a right. Oh re­ally? Despite the brave words, the truth is otherwise.

The sad fact is that we are con­tent with a system that ensures that many will be killed and injured on the roads. In 2024, nearly 400 people died in traf­fic accidents in Ontario. Most of those “accidents” were avoida­ble. That’s the real tragedy.