Megan Sheremata feels it’s just a matter of time before someone is killed while trying to cross Coxwell Avenue between Upper Gerrard Street East and The Danforth.
Sheremata didn’t realize this stretch was so dangerous until she started walking her three-year-old son, Hugo, to Le Petit Chaperon Rouge daycare just south of the CN Rail bridge. Cars regularly speed up and down the busy thoroughfare. The two pedestrian crossings on the route are often ignored. And sight lines are terrible, she said.
“I just moved here a few years ago and this traffic thing makes me want to leave. It’s frightening,” she said.
“There are real problems. I’m 100 per cent positive that someone’s going to die.”
Ten-year area Ward 32 resident Monique Hutchins said she almost got hit by a vehicle this fall while crossing Coxwell Avenue with her three-year-old son, Jordan.
Like Sheremata, Hutchins said she regularly sees cars speed through the crosswalk south of the CN rail bridge. Recently, she said she saw a police car blow right through that crosswalk when it was activated.
“Someone will soon get hit and I would rather see safety measures put in place so that doesn't happen,” said Hutchins, who wants the city to install Watch Your Speed signs or an electronic speed gauge so motorists can see how fast they’re going. She’d also like to see more School Zone/Children signs, a crossing guard at the pedestrian crossing, a traffic light at Coxwell Avenue and Hanson Street.
Further, Hutchins said she wants to see police handing out traffic tickets to drivers who don’t stop, to those who don’t wait for pedestrians to fully cross at the crosswalk, and to speeders.
Late last year, Sheremata contacted the office of her local councillor Paula Fletcher to share concerns about Coxwell Avenue on behalf of several area residents.
On Thursday, Jan. 19, a staff member from Fletcher’s office and an engineer from Transportation Services attended a walkabout along that stretch of Coxwell Avenue, which is flanked by several schools and daycare centres.
Neighbouring Coun. Mary-Margaret McMahon, who couldn’t make it to the walkabout, said pedestrian safety is a top priority and she’ll work with Fletcher to address concerns on Coxwell Avenue.
“I’m happy to support any road safety issues, especially kids walking to school,” the Ward 32 representative said.
On Monday, Fletcher penned a letter to Dave Twaddle, the city’s Director of Transportation for Toronto and East York.
In the note, she pointed to some of the solutions discussed during the recent walkabout: lowering the height of the lights at the Coxwell/Rail Bridge crosswalk to make them more visible, increasing signage on the north side of the rail bridge, and moving the crossing further south.
Fletcher also asked Twaddle to have a “Watch Your Speed” trailer installed as a temporary safety measure.
“It’s great that people want to walk to school and the city should be supporting that,” Fletcher said, adding a big part of the solution is driver awareness.
Anne Khan, the city’s manager of traffic operations for Toronto and East York District, agreed.
“At the end of the day, there’s no silver bullet. There is a lot that engineering can do but a lot of it is driver behaviour,” she said.
Transportation Services will also be doing a review of the area, looking at drivers’ speed, as well as the volume of motorists on Coxwell.
“Our goal is to keep traffic moving at a decent speed,” she said.
Ward 15 TDSB Trustee Jennifer Story is also concerned about the traffic “chaos” on Coxwell Avenue.
“Something has to be done and we need the police service’s help,” she said Monday night.
“I have received many letters and telephone calls from worried parents concerned about the unsafe conditions and potential for serious incidents as their children travel to and from school,” she wrote in a letter to Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders, pointing to two recent collisions involving students from Earl Haig Junior Public School.
Story is also calling on Saunders to add a crossing guard at the corner of Coxwell Avenue and Hanson Street.
Const. Jon Morrice of 55 Division said despite concerns from the public, that stretch of Coxwell Avenue doesn’t have a high number of collisions, but did say complaints have started to come in about drivers speeding on Coxwell Avenue.
VIDEO: Our @JoannaLavoie saw 1st hand today how dangerous traffic can be on Coxeell Avenue, north of Upper Gerrard. Story on way. #eastTO pic.twitter.com/qAcYEb81Px
— The Beach Mirror (@BchRivMirror) January 23, 2017
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