Chow pitches right-angled curbs to keep pedestrians safer
Posted September 3, 2014 6:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Mayoral candidate Olivia Chow is pitching right-angled curbs at Toronto intersections as part of her three-point strategy to keep pedestrians safe.
The plan would be to turn rounded curbs at the city’s 100 most dangerous intersections into sharp right-angled ones so drivers would have to slow down, making it safer for pedestrians.
“The curb is sometimes too smooth,” Chow told CityNews. “We’ve seen pedestrians die when a car makes right turns. Occasionally the driver forgets to check the blind spot or is distracted.”
The right-angled curbs idea comes from research out of Texas and their 90 degree angles are supposed to slow cars down. Click here to read a report on it.
“They need to be squared rather than curved. So it takes a bit longer to make the right turn, therefore, lowering the speed and [having] lower fatalities,” Chow said.
Some pedestrians surveyed at Bathurst Street and Lake Shore Boulevard West told CityNews they see close calls every day, particularly with cars hugging the sidewalk as they turn right.
But they gave the idea of right-angled curbs mixed reviews.
“I don’t know if it’d work because a lot of drivers don’t really pay attention to pedestrians or cyclists or even road signs … But something has to be done, right?” one man said.
Another pedestrian said, “It could cause more problems than solutions.”
And that’s one of the major concerns for Toronto police. Right-angled curbs would mean buses and trucks would have to pull farther into the intersection, creating potentially danger situations, while in other cases it would be impossible for these big vehicles to turn.
Chow said if she’s elected mayor she wouldn’t rip up all the sidewalks in the city, saying the angled curbs would be on a case-by-case basis.
“Every intersection is different so it is really up to the expert to decide how to make the intersection safe,” she said.
Click here to read about her strategy.
