Starting this morning, police will be on hand at several major Toronto intersections as part of the second phase of Mayor John Tory’s traffic congestion management plan.
“Traffic assistance personnel” can be found at a number of key intersections during peak times to help improve the flow of traffic as well as pedestrian and cyclist safety.
The first phase of the pilot project ran in June and the second phase runs for four weeks beginning today.
Officers have been placed at the intersections of Bay and Queen streets, Front and Simcoe streets, Sheppard Avenue and Yonge Street, Front Street and University Avenue, Bay and Bloor streets, and University Avenue and Adelaide Street.
“The presence of officers has led to a reduced number of prohibited turns because people are not as inclined to do the prohibited turn when there is a police officer present and the officers have been better able to manage people going into the intersection too late,” Tory told reporters Monday morning.
“Those are some of the lessons… that were learned from Phase 1.”
Tory added that in order to make the pilot program a permanent one, the city will require a change to a provincial law that only permits police officers to direct traffic.
Tory said if the legislation is changed, the city could create a new type of traffic “warden” position.
“These are people who are trained to do this but they are not fully trained police officers and as a result they are more available to us and they are frankly less expensive than a fully trained police officer,” the mayor said.
“We are very hopeful that piece of legislation will happen this fall and then allow us to move ahead and create those kinds of positions so that we can make this kind of program something that is permanent in places where it helps.”
