Toronto Police Are Cracking Down On Traffic Safety During March Break
Police will be coming down hard on reckless drivers.
Toronto traffic on Queen Street during winter.
Driving in the 6ix can sometimes be a downright unpleasant experience, and it's not just because traffic is bad.
Toronto Police Service announced on Monday that starting March 14 to 20, they would be participating in a week-long process of community engagement and action focused on "protecting and educating all road users."
Day 1 of #MarchBreak #MarchSafe campaign & we\u2019re sharing some stats that might make you think differently about #TrafficSafety. Did you know 601 people died in #Toronto collisions in the last decade? Let\u2019s stop #Speeding, #Aggressive, #Distracted & #Impaired #Driving behaviours\u2026pic.twitter.com/ehDnCOK6Pg— TPS Traffic Services (@TPS Traffic Services) 1647277221
The campaign will see traffic enforcement focus on four significant collision-causing behaviours: speeding, driving aggressively, driving while distracted and driving while impaired.
"In the past decade, 601 people have been killed on Toronto's roads. Of those, 345 were pedestrians and 18 were under the age of 18. So far in 2022 there have been nine fatalities resulting from collisions on Toronto's roads and six were pedestrians," an excerpt from the news release reads.
Police also noted that many pedestrian deaths occur on "arterial roads which are wide, signalized streets carrying high volumes of traffic."
"Children represent a large portion of our population and vulnerable road user group. They are vehicle occupants, pedestrians, cyclist and users of small wheeled devices such as scooters or skateboards," the statement adds. "Road safety education is considered an essential component of teaching children the skills to interact with traffic safely."
Last week, The City of Toronto's Transportation Services' revealed to Narcity which intersections in the 6ix had the most collisions the previous year based on the highest number of major and minor collisions that happened at these spots.
The top three were listed as Kingston Road, Port Union Road, and Sheppard Avenue East, which reported the most collisions in 2021, with a total of 12.