MB Toronto
Morning Brew: Cyclist charged with careless driving after striking pedestrian, Maclean House may be saved from demolition, the Argos pull a controversial ad, the average Toronto home sells for more than $500K, and a pickpocket is impersonating a cop
A male cyclist was charged with careless driving after he struck a woman, fracturing her skull, at the intersection of Dundas and Huron on Tuesday morning. He now faces a $400 fine, which some don't think is enough. Apparently the cyclist zipped through a red light riding southbound on a northbound one-way street, which pretty much ensures that the incident sure is to draw criticism from both ends of the cycling spectrum. Careless driving is the highest charge under the Highway Traffic Act, and though cyclists and drivers are treated equally under the act, unlike drivers, cyclists don't lose demerit points or risk losing their license. Let the discussion begin.
Possibly some good news for Maclean House. A new group has acquired the Toronto heritage building, and thus saved it from the fate of many Toronto heritage sites: demolition. The decrepit building's previous owners, 1626829 Ontario Ltd., had applied for its removal in order to build - what else - new condos, but its new owners promise to restore the former home of Maclean's magazine founder John Bayne Maclean to its long-ago glory, as well as to build some new townhouses.
The Toronto Argonauts have pulled a controversial advertisement from city subways and stations after people complained that the ad's slogan, "Home is where the heart is. It's also where we hurt people," promoted domestic violence. The ads obviously intended to drum up support for the team, but, yeah, that definitely sounds scary. But then again, football players don't have a reputation for being good with the words, either.
Ever wonder when you'll be able to stop renting and finally buy a home in the city? Well, you'll need put out $500,000, which is the average price for a house in Toronto. The National Post has an informative Q&A with Jason Mercer, senior manager of market analysis at the Toronto Real Estate Board, about Toronto's rising home prices.
IN BRIEF:
- Group asks TDSB to stop Muslim prayer sessions
- Police warn public of pickpocket impersonating police officer
- Jays lost to Red Sox
Photo by Iainphotos in the blogTO Flickr pool.
Discussion
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In any case, $400 is definitely not enough of a fine. Not even close.
As an aside, check out greaterfool.ca for an opposing viewpoint (though not necessarily impartial) on the housing market in Canada.
Nothing on the TTC supervisor assaulting a lady at bathurst station?
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/141301--woman-claims-she-was-assaulted-on-streetcar-by-ttc-supervisor
Get some perspective people.
This kind of crap wouldn't fly in the private sector.
"An 18-year-old Mississauga man, who killed Eduardo and Fernandina Pascoal with his car last year... $1,000 fine.
39-year-old truck driver ... fined $500 for the death of Tina Kuipers, 65..."
Looks like he was treated very similarly to drivers in similar situations. Pretty sure if you're not drunk you're unlikely to get jail time.
"An 18-year-old Mississauga man, who killed Eduardo and Fernandina Pascoal with his car last year, pleaded guilty to careless driving earlier this month and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
In May, a 39-year-old truck driver in Brampton pleaded guilty to failing to yield and was fined $500 for the death of Tina Kuipers, 65, who was killed as she tried to cross Queen St. in Brampton last year."
c'mon - this is nothing compare to what motorists drivers getting other with (including killing bicyclists) and real assaults happening everyday in domestic environment, but not covers by the CrappyTV.
TTC workers deal with smart-ass morons, who claims they k now their rights, every day. They need to be treated equally and not like servants. comment should be sent in a written forms, not directly to a driver, who may went through a traffic stress just minutes before. They are people. that Girl will never open her mouth with a stranger on a street, why she allow herself to do so with a TTC operator? she deserved this.
My suggestions to all moaning people: get your fat/skinny asses out of the car, try riding a ttc, and if you dont like it - Bicycle! show how you can bike between Гucked up car drivers and angry TTC employees.
Car drivers leave the city! Stay in suburbia and on a highway.
Did they plow into people at a crosswalk?
Just curious
We definitely need public education. I see cyclists trying to pass a car waiting turn to right on the right all the time. They don't know better.
We also need way more enforcement, and not just when an accident occurs. And, of course, more bike lanes.
The point of this all is that the rules need to be changed for BOTH drivers and cyclists. The worst that can happen to someone who carelessly plows into pedestrians is a fine, unless alcohol or stunt driving is involved. Things need to be bumped up a little when careless driving leads to a death or serious injury.
It's because the written complaint process you speak about is broken and nothing ever gets done. I've been in a couple situations like this where a driver pulls a vehicle out of service because he's being confronted (not violently, just held accountable). They always call the cops and the cops leave as quickly as they arrive when they realize the driver overreacted and there are fifty witnesses telling the exact same story-- the driver was rude or abusive, someone attempted to capture the rudeness since complaints go unanswered at head office, driver threatens to take vehicle out of service, passengers express outrage, driver calls police claiming his life is in danger.
Living in that neighbourhood (between Spadina and College & McCaul and Dundas), it's difficult to get onto Spadina or go westbound using the roads on a bike. The area is a collection of one-way streets designed for traffic calming within the neighbourhood. Seeing how the majority of residents in the area are students or locals without cars, there's a high volume of bicycle usage that the current infrastructure doesn't adequately deal with. I too have gone the wrong way in that intersection in order to get myself onto dundas.
While the laws ensure that there is a penalty for careless driving, it doesn't prevent incidents like this occurring again. I knew that something like this was bound to happen. Traffic enforcement is very prevalent in the area but it's not necessarily addressing the issue that this is a multifaceted problem that is commonly seen with these small but well used streets. A traffic count of cyclists' actual paths within that neighbourhood could provide a better sense of who is using the Beverley St bike lane and who isn't to make their trips.
I'll be one of the first to complain about the TTC's abysmal service, but in this case they were provoked and provoked by their "customers" beyond what anyone should have to tolerate at work.
There should be a new law and it should apply to both car and bike owners: reckless endangerment of pedestrians causing injury or reckless endangerment of pedestrians causing death.
This would be charged in addition to whatever road/cycling bylaws they break. Someone riding on the sidewalk who injures a pedestrian would be potentially charged with both. Someone riding on the sidewalk who injures nobody gets charged with just the cycling bylaw.
This would allow for some common sense to be applied to the situation. A cyclist unknowingly going down a one way street and harming nobody would be treated differently than a cyclist knowingly going down a one way street and injuring someone. Ideally even in the case of injury there should be a strong case of negligence on the part of the cyclist (or driver). Because frankly I think if someone accidentally goes down a one way street and injures someone they should be treated differently as well.
If this happens often, I can see employees getting frustrated.
Cyclists know better, they just don't care.
They have this entitlement to do anything they want on their bikes, or so they believe.
And a big problem is they must be disciplined to STOP. Stop at lights, crosswalks, stop streets, for buses, for other vehicles in front of them, etc.
If they can't or won't they should be charged and lose their right to ride.
There must be licensing, despite the nonsense Bombrick spouts, if for no other reason than having a cyclists identity. If they break the rules they can be charged. Otherwise who are they? There's no obligation to identify themselves.
Often that is enough. For those that can't abide, the police must enforce with force. Just as they should and do with drivers.
There's no room for selfish, self-righteous people zooming around regardless of how.
cyclist kills one pedestrian a year, the peanut gallery froths at the mouth, wants to ban bikes and lock up the cyclists.
you guys are awesome. and really do not seem to notice the hypocrisy
Statistics Canada says that an average of 13 pedestrians are injured every day in Ontario. Who were today's other 12? What about last year's 4,999?
Cyclists need to be licensed, right away. Yes, I can hear the screams of "cash grab!" What other recourse is there, if you are hit by a cyclist? With a car, you can at least get a partial plate, but a bike?
For the naysayers, all I have to say is: no matter if your skull is crushed when you are hit by a bike or car, your skull is crushed. Broken bones don't know the difference.
I seriously hope this lady recovers, and sues this jerk's ass into the Depths of Hell.
"Sure kid you can ride your bike without a licence until the age of 16,but when you turn the age of 16 you become more reckless and a potential danger to society...you must be licensed."
Drivers are licensed, however accidents occur everyday.
why does the mention of bike licensing seem like crazy talk to some people?
the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages (which are not many).
There is a difference between a 2 ton 120 km/h machine and a bicycle and a pedestrian - like, thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of injuries and many millions of dollars in damages versus a few accidents (however tragic they may be - I don't mean to defend the cyclist in this case or take lightly this womans horrible circumstance) and inconveniences.
just last night at the very same intersection that this terrible accident occured (dundas and huron) I was almost mowed down by an angry, confused driver who tried to make a u-turn in the middle of busy dundas - this happens daily, multiple times, to me and every other cyclist in the city.
lay off the bikes, drivers - drive less, drive slower, DRIVE SLOWER, and drive nice, please!
just accept the fact that it will eventually happen. other countries do this and we will too...
give me some good reasons why this is not a good idea (other than you simply not liking it)?
I have seen little to support (and for not)licensing cyclists in this and other conversations. Mostly what I see is some kind of revenge and a mean spirited attitude, an effort to deny cyclists access to the road.
Instead of saying other countries do so we should is not reasoned. Explain why that country came to that conclusion. I am very willing to accept a thought out argument for licensing.
1. A bureaucratic barrier to cheap/clean transportation
2. Unlikely to produce safety benefit (will there be real training? Didn't think so)
3. Ignores the fact that better biking infrastructure and more responsible behaviour by cyclists is what's really needed.
Seriously, it's a pointless as licensing housecats. Drop the idea and move on to real solutions.
1. Bureaucratic? Yes. Barrier? No. With that reasoning anything that requires any effort would be a problem.
2. Unlikely is an opinion. Its all about accountability.
3. Infrastructure will come once society deems it necessary. Right now, urban transportation via a bicycle is its infacy in our fair city. That is not Rob Ford's fault...it is the fact that we have a cold, large, low density city.
If a housecat's main mode of transport was via our roadways and they were not following street signs and rules, then it would make perfect sense to license them. Or exterminate them.