A west-end city councillor is pushing for reduced speed limits the morning after the 14th pedestrian was killed on GTA roads this month.
High Park Coun. Bill Saundercook would like councillors to research the most dangerous streets in their wards, with the intent of reducing speed limits on those roadways by 10 kilometres per hour.
He is putting forward the motion Tuesday, which will be debated on Wednesday.
Saundercook’s initiative comes after a 38-year-old woman died after being struck by a SUV in midtown on Monday evening.
Toronto police say Juliette Robinson was crossing Davenport Road when she was struck by a northbound Dodge Durango turning left from Symington Avenue at about 6:25 p.m.
Sgt. Tim Burrows says she was hit by the SUV while she crossed slightly west of a marked crosswalk. Robinson was trapped under the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
Robinson’s brother Everald Dawes describes the victim as a loving, caring person who had just been laid off from her job. He says the family is devastated but adds he doesn’t think reducing traffic speeds will make a difference in pedestrian deaths.
Saundercook, on the other hand, sees the speed reduction issue as an urgent one that strikes close to home. He says he has had family members die in pedestrian crashes in his ward, where he has been the councillor for 20 years.
