An adult and a child were rushed to hospital with serious injuries Thursday morning after they were struck by the driver of a vehicle in midtown Toronto, paramedics say.
Police say emergency crews were called to the area of Mount Pleasant Road and Davisville Avenue, in the city’s Davisville Village neighbourhood, at 8:45 a.m. for a report of a pedestrian struck.
Toronto Paramedic Services tell CP24 that two people, an adult and a child, sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to a trauma centre.
The driver of the vehicle involved remained on scene, police said.
Residents say intersection is a problem
The site of Thursday morning’s collision is not far from where an elderly woman was struck and killed by a dump truck in October of 2023. In that incident, the woman was using a walker to cross from the southwest corner of Mount Pleasant Road to the east side of the street when she was struck by a dump truck that was turning south.
While its unclear if speed was a factor in either incident, residents have expressed concerns in the past about the lack of traffic enforcement at the busy intersection, which includes a school, a park, and several bus stops.
Sıla Okur, who lives nearby, was at the site of the Thursday collision with his daughter just 20 minutes prior. He told CTV News Toronto that he submitted a complaint to the city about the intersection in 2022.
“I wrote to the city of Toronto asking for some kind of, you know…enforcement there. And their response was ‘expected service delivery time of April 2023,’” he told CTV News Toronto in an interview. “I think it was during that time, they installed a box that looked like a speed trap or a camera for a few months, it stayed there, and then it was removed, and nothing else was done.”
Okur said the fact more wasn’t done to address safety concerns is frustrating. He urged the city to take immediate action to increase the safety of pedestrians and motorists in the area.
“It's important to us, it's important to everybody in the neighborhood. And what makes it a lot worse is that I asked about this, and we just got ignored. So that's what got me really angry at everything today.”
CTV News Toronto has reached out to the City of Toronto for comment but has not received a response.
City councillor calls for 'immediate interventions'
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Coun. Josh Matlow said the victims are a mother and child.
“We are all hoping for their recovery and will be there for them as a community,” he said, adding that work is being done on a “new design” for Davisville Avenue.
In the interim, Matlow said he’s asked the city to install “immediate interventions” at crosswalks in the area, including closing the curb lane where necessary.
“While we need to know the outcome of the police investigation to inform the most helpful actions, everything possible that can be done to improve safe crossing must be, and will be, done,” he said.
With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman
