A few weeks ago Toronto began changing speed limit signs in residential areas from 50kph to 40kph, the reason given was to help reduce ever increasing vehicle & pedestrian collision injuries. Now In an interview aired on CTV news, Mayor John Tory announced Toronto would no longer enforce the bylaw banning road hockey, basically inviting our children to go out and play in traffic for hours in these very streets while distracted from the danger with a game of hockey.
I am close to the mayors age and have lived in the same house for the past 50 years. With this perspective I can say with out a doubt road hockey in most of Toronto is not the same innocent game it was in the 1960s when John Tory and I played. Back when it was legal not to seat belt kids in cars and lawn darts and wood burning kits were popular toys, playing road hockey in light traffic fit right in. Today seatbelts are mandatory and toys considered even remotely dangerous are banned, but not only has road hockey continued, it has become a lot more dangerous then back then. The number of cars in Toronto has increased exponentially. What used to be mostly empty and clear streets are now busy and filled with parked cars with just enough room left for traffic to get by.
Mr. Tory was elected partly from frustrated Toronto drivers because he was going to get Toronto’s traffic moving, but by lowering speed limits and now turning streets into playgrounds, driver frustration could hit a new high. This driver attitude along with the attitude of some of todays youth can make for a deadly combination.
Not only is road hockey now a days a danger to our kids it can also cause a lot of property damage to vehicles. After buying a new car in 2008 we watched helplessly over the next couple of years as the nightly road hockey game in front of our house caused half a dozen dents and 2 cracked windshields. We would often go out to find kids sitting on the hood while taking a break from the game. The screeching of car brakes became a familiar sound as kids darted out in traffic from between parked cars after battling an opposite team member with sticks against the trunk of one of the cars for the hard rubber ball. The familiar yelling of “car”, and kids clearing the street to let traffic go by has long gone on my street. Because of an increased frequency of traffic, most of the time the kids would not move and just keep playing. If a car honked at them the driver was told to “f@ck off” and when finally allowed to pass have a have a hockey stick threateningly waived at them as they drove by. Despite numerous complaints by us to the police the games continued. Suddenly during the Rob Ford days the games stopped and so did the chaos on our street. Now with this announcement and our new 5 month old car there is a good chance we will go through the same thing again.
I fail to understand some of the people that are still in favor of keeping road hockey going just because it’s been around for such a long time. In the same John Tory announcement story, CTV news interviewed a mother who after complaining about how dangerous the traffic on her street was, actually complemented John Tory’s decision to allow road hockey so her kids could play there.
I am not against kids playing ball hockey and playing out doors but times have changed and these games are no longer safe or practical to be played on busy side streets. Less than 200 metres from my house is an under utilized city park few people go to. I am all for spending tax payers money on practical things, like paving an area there for a ball hockey rink as well as any other parks where kids would use it. Although I believe there still might be some areas where road hockey might work and could be left alone, whenever there is a complaint about safety or property damage law enforcement should shut it down.
In a city that banned tobogganing in some parks last winter for fear of being sued it boggles my mind how they are willing to turn a blind eye to the law and allow kids to play in traffic. There is absolutely no question by allowing road hockey in Toronto now, its not a question of if, but when and how many children are seriously injured or killed. Although being traumatic for all involved, the real blame and child’s blood will be on the mayor’s hands and those that support his decision.
Still support Mayor Tory’s position on road hockey after reading this? Let me know what kind of car you drive and where you park, I know some kids that need practice with their slap shot.
Few people would disagree that construction is a big cause of the traffic problems in Toronto. As a driver, and former employee of a large company that does work on Toronto’s roads it is clear to me that most construction companies have little regard to how they effect traffic. I can recall a number of times when I shut down a lane of traffic on a major street and not going back for days because my employer had other work and didn’t want to pay overtime to finish that job and free up the lane.
SOLUTION:
REQUIRE CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES TO OBTAIN A PERMIT TO SHUT DOWN A LANE OF TRAFFIC FOR MORE THEN 1 HOUR AT A COST OF $200.00 PER HOUR BETWEEN 6:00am and 10:00pm. NO CHARGE OR PERMIT REQUIRED BETWEEN 10:00pm TO 6:00am.
Only by effecting companies bottom line will they effectively make use of road closures. They will also be motivated to come up with creative ways to avoid it or speed things up:
-The company I worked with has many jobs that cause lane closures that are currently done during the day that could be done between 10:00PM and 6:00am.
-In some cases 3 construction crews doing the same type of work at 3 different locations could be all assigned to 3 different 8hr shifts at 1 location eliminating 2/3 of some road closures (max DB levels would have to be established and enforced at the outside wall of any residential buildings between 10:00PM and 7:00AM).
-Maybe the new condo could be built without taking out a lane of traffic in front for months which is currently the case in several locations along Adelaide St West.
In any case if construction Companies are required to pay, no traffic lanes will be closed unnecessarily. Motorists might be a little more tolerant with construction knowing the company that closed down the lane ahead of them is paying for it.
COSTS
A lot of road work is paid for by the City of Toronto and therefore a lot the permit costs received would be reflected back in contractor bids for the city jobs but the winning contractor would be the one that could keep these costs to a minimum.
The remaining money from permit costs would be more than enough to fund the cost of implementing and maintaining this system and would be a significant revenue stream for the city of Toronto.
IMPLEMENTING
0-6 MONTHS- Establish an office, staff and user friendly web site for the public that can display a map of the city showing every hour of the day for the next 12 months
6-18 MONTHS- Require companies to have a permit to shut down a lane but no charges yet to allow them time to adjust their job bidding costs, come up with new solutions to avoid costs and for the permit office to refine web site and procedures.
-Construction company calls permit office for permit with street numbers from __ to __, direction and lane to be closed and the times it will be closed
Permit employee goes on the permit office web site with Toronto map for that street, date and times and verifies other parallel streets in area not already shown closed with other permits
Permit employee changes map and adds red line for east bound lane closures and green line for west bound closures between addresses given and notes the permit number next to it.
Permit employee then e-mails permit right away to construction company that they are required to display in windshield of vehicles at work site.
Public is given access to view permit web site in real time. They could enter any date and time between 6:00am and 10:00pm in the next 12 months and view a map of Toronto showing what lanes are scheduled to be closed anywhere in the city.
18 MONTHS + Charging for permits begins. Same procedure as 6-18 months except construction companies credit card info taken and billed before permit is e-mailed. For larger amounts certified cheque or bank transfer must be received before permit is issued.
The permit web site for the public would have a phone number for the public to call to report any construction lane closures that do not appear on the web site map for that date and time. If calls for same company and location are received more than 2hrs apart (1hr no charge + 1hr grace) an inspector is dispatched and the company is fined.
The permit web site would also have a phone number for the public to be used for noise complaints from construction companies between 10:00pm and 7:00am. An inspector would be dispatched to check predetermined DB levels at the outside wall of nearest residential building. If the level are too high the construction company would be permitted to work only between 7:00am and 10:00pm with a valid permit.
Only by effecting construction companies bottom line will they truly avoid non-essential lane closures.
Dave Lister
listerlogic.com
NOTE: the above article was written by me on May 29/ 2014 and sent by e-mail to the following:
Globe and Mail
Toronto Star
Frances Nunziata
Rob Ford (Toronto’s Mayor at the time)
David Soknacki
Karen Stintz
Olivia Chow
The John Oaklew Show Am 640
John Tory (Toronto’s current Mayor)
Since John Tory has become mayor he has implemented some of the above ideas such as 24hr construction, and a construction coordination centre.
SOLUTIONS TO TORONTO’S TRAFFIC PROBLEM / PART 2: POPULATION DENSITY
PART 2: POPULATION DENSITY
You don’t have to go too far in downtown Toronto to find another construction crane putting up another 300 unit condo or office tower where there used to be a parking lot, green space or block of single family homes. In fact there are so many that in some areas the cranes look like they could crash into each other as they spin around.
With the major traffic problem and the inadequate public transit in Toronto’s downtown core why are so many permits still given out for all these condos adding hundreds of units a month and cramming more and more people into an already gridlocked city? It is time to stop giving out building permits that add to the population density in areas of Toronto that have transportation inadequacies (almost all or the downtown core). Like a glass of water being overfilled, too much effort is put into trying to clean up the mess rather then the simplest solution of stop pouring the water into it. The longer the city waits to fix this problem the harder it gets and the more expensive it becomes. Building first then trying to update the infrastructure is like packing a house full of new furniture then renovating the walls and floors.
The argument that because most of the people in some newly built condos do not own a car and therefore do not add to the traffic gridlock is a myth. Anyone living downtown that does not own a car requires a wide range of goods and services to be shipped in from groceries, clothing, mail, repair and maintenance services as well as anyone that comes to visit them that travels by car. Also, the more people that do not have a car moving downtown are stressing our current public transit system even further beyond it’s limits.
Once Toronto stops issuing building permits that increase the population density the gridlock will stop getting worse. Let’s get the sewers and hydro upgraded, fix the roads, add subways and once the existing gridlock is gone then issue permits for new condos and projects that add to the population density in the areas that can handle it.
Dave Lister
listerlogic.com
NOTE: the above article was written by me on June 16/ 2014 and sent by e-mail to the following:
Toronto Sun
Toronto Star
Frances Nunziata
Rob Ford (Toronto’s Mayor at the time)
Karen Stintz
Olivia Chow
John Tory (Toronto’s current Mayor)
SOLUTIONS TO TORONTO’S TRAFFIC PROBLEM / PART 3: ONE WAY STREETS
After driving for my job for more then 20 years in downtown Toronto there is one method that works to move traffic when done right and that is one way streets. Although they haven’t been a good example in the last several years due to condo and road construction causing multiple closed lanes in multiple locations, Richmond and Adelaide make up a vital east west artery in Toronto. With the 2 streets in close proximity to each other and Adelaide being a 4 lane street east bound and Richmond being a 4 lane street west bound it was well worth driving out of my way to use them when I had to cross the city.
The reason for this is simple. With a typical 4 lane 2 way road like Yonge St. at every intersection if a car wants to turn right on a green light they have to wait for a break in a sometimes never ending line of pedestrians leaving only the left lane of traffic to get through. If a car wants to turn left on a green light they have to wait for a break in oncoming traffic and a break in a sometimes never ending line of pedestrians on the other side of the road leaving only the right lane to get through. If a car is trying to turn right at the same time another car is trying to turn left then no one gets through. The current solution Toronto uses is to ban right, left or both turns at intersections but this sometimes makes cars drive past there turn causing them to drive further and longer getting to their destination resulting in even more congestion.
With a 4 lane one way street like Richmond or Adelaide, at each intersection a car can be turning right at the same time another car is turning left and the 2 centre lanes are still open for traffic going straight through. It also makes it possible for cars to turn at all intersections either direction without effecting the 2 centre lanes. This not only works, but works well.
By converting more carefully selected streets to one way Toronto can create arteries that would be able to move multiple times the traffic of the current layout.
Dave Lister
listerlogic.com
NOTE: the above article was written by me on June 25/ 2014 and sent by e-mail to the following:
Toronto Star
The Globe and Mail
Frances Nunziata
Rob Ford (Toronto’s Mayor at the time)
Karen Stintz
Olivia Chow
John Tory (Toronto’s current Mayor)
SOLUTIONS TO TORONTO’S TRAFFIC PROBLEM / CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Are you in good mood?
If you answered yes then you probably haven’t just travelled through downtown Toronto. The fact is that gridlock and lack of public transit have reached a critical state. Whether your watching another packed bus or streetcar pull away without you or you’ve just been cut off yet again in your car, few people can not help feeling frustrated and angry after even a short trip downtown. Government solutions are mostly years away from completion if they ever get built at all and we need to something now.
The solution is to put future plans submitted for any future developments that add to the number of people living and working downtown such as condos and office towers on hold. The city needs to charge construction companies by the hour for shutting down lanes to prevent unnecessary road closures and we need to create traffic arteries buy changing some 4-lane roads to one way streets to better move traffic. If we act now to get things under control we might make getting around Toronto bearable again. If we do nothing we are heading for years of even more misery and a disaster that can only be fixed by huge tax hikes and deficits.
Dave Lister
listerlogic.com
NOTE: the above article was written by me on June 27/ 2014 and sent by e-mail to the following:
