Toronto intersection plagued by 'infuriated' drivers now considered urgent safety risk

A Toronto intersection where frustrated motorists wait out throngs of pedestrians has been identified as an "urgent" safety risk, prompting the City to explore new turning restrictions.

The corner of St. George and Ursula Franklin streets regularly sees large crowds of students from the University of Toronto's St. George Campus. This pedestrian flow causes regular confrontations with impatient motorists attempting to find a gap in foot traffic to turn west onto Ursula Franklin from St. George.

With tempers flaring and the fall semester now in full swing, the school is raising urgent concerns about the problematic intersection and seeking a fix before someone gets killed.

In response to these concerns, Dianne Saxe, City Councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale, has requested changes to traffic rules at the intersection.

In a letter addressed to Toronto and East York Community Council members ahead of an Oct. 22 meeting, Saxe noted that  "heavy pedestrian traffic on St. George Street, especially when classes change," has spurred safety concerns from the university over turning vehicles and drivers who "become impatient when there is no break in the pedestrian flow."

"While they wait, they block traffic, infuriating drivers behind them. Tempers flare, and some drivers attempt to push through the pedestrians," wrote Saxe.

Saxe has recommended that the City approve a plan to prohibit northbound left turns and southbound right turns at the intersection from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, excluding cyclists.

According to an Oct. 14 memorandum sent to the community council by Mike Barnet, the City's Director of Enforcement and Street Management, the move would affect "approximately 650 northbound left turns and 250 southbound right turns over the busiest eight-hour period of a typical weekday."

The letter explains that "The turn prohibitions will redirect these 900 turning motorists to adjacent streets and intersections," noting that "further analysis would be required to determine where this traffic would be diverted to and any negative impacts."

Despite these concerns, an Oct. 16 letter from Kyle MacDonald, Senior Policy Advisor at U of T's Government Relations Office, points out that the institution "continues to receive reports from the community about instances where pedestrians and cyclists are being injured due to a disregard for signage and traffic signals."

MacDonald noted that "the intersection and area around Ursula Franklin and St. George is one that is particularly fraught."
 
The item was adopted during the Oct. 22 Toronto and East York Community Council meeting.