Thread by @FFSafeStreets

Hey @NACTO #NACTO19. Before you fawn over Toronto's leadership, we have seen MANY pedestrians preventably killed in recent weeks. This woman, killed yesterday, might have been someone's mom. cp24.com/news/woman-str…
This one, Friday, someone's grandpa? toronto.citynews.ca/video/2019/09/…

https://twitter.com/NACTO/status/1171125693897433093

Imagine sitting for days by the side of a dangerous arterial, holding a sign hoping for the hit-and-run driver who killed your vibrant, beloved daughter to come forward? Knowing there is still no crosswalk planned to address the TTC desire line? #NACTO19 thestar.com/news/gta/2019/…

#RoadViolence is so rampant and destructive that many have called for a state of emergency. thestar.com/news/gta/2018/…
#RoadViolence is unquestionably a clear, urgent #PublicHealthCrisis in this city. #NACTO19 cbc.ca/listen/live-ra…

DYK @JohnTory vocally opposes a textbook @NACTO #CompleteStreets plan for a busy, dense North York neighbourhood filled with families, with schools nearby? Instead of #TransformYonge, he prefers a dangerous, hostile, polluted 6-lane highway. #NACTO19 thestar.com/news/gta/2018/…

Why might anyone want this main street to NOT be a deadly 6-lane highway? 🤔 cp24.com/news/man-65-de…
We don't count 2018 van attack victims in our #RoadViolence stats, but it happened in the #TransformYonge corridor and infrastructure could have helped. #NACTO19

This is more like Toronto's "shining leadership" on reducing #RoadViolence. No mention of infrastructure re-design or law change. Only finger-wagging. Our mayor does this EVERY TIME he publicly comments on a vulnerable road user's violent death. #NACTO19

https://twitter.com/dmrider/status/1171451731332358151

THIS is what the streets of Toronto are like if you have the courage to #BikeTO here, because we have almost no protected, separated infrastructure. For what few km of disconnected painted lanes we have, we all know that #PaintIsNotProtection.
#NACTO19

That last little bit in that video might make you curious. Here's what that's all about: globalnews.ca/news/5800951/c… Uber driver ran red, 3-car crash, 4 peds injured, with an INFANT sent to hospital! Why do #TODeadlyStreets enable SUCH high speed in a dense urban area?! #NACTO19

Implied in the city's #VisionZero efforts is the notion that to get any #CompleteStreet infra, we need to wait for a street to need its 50-75 year rebuild. If your street isn't old and dilapidated enough to be coming up soon, you're out of luck. That's RIDICULOUS. #NACTO19

Paint, bollards, planters, prefab curbs etc are FAST to roll out. Ask @JSadikKhan! With #PoliticalWill to put safety ahead of car convenience, we could more quickly improve every deadly arterial in Toronto and unleash the HUGE potential for mode share shift here. #NACTO19

Many groups of advocates fought TOOTH&NAIL for every metre of safe infra that we have. Getting safe infrastructure on #Bloor took many times more evidence & debate than spending BILLIONS keeping up the obsolete #Gardiner expwy that cuts downtown off from our waterfront! #NACTO19

In #VisionZeroTO, many leaders are content for speeds on our city's most deadly streets to be dropped to 50km/h, bc it's fine for 85% of struck pedestrians to die violent, family-shattering deaths, with the remaining 15% struck suffering horrendous injuries. #NACTO19

Last we checked, the 'Zero' part of #VisionZero meant NO DEATH. None. It's not called "Vision-85%-of-Struck-Pedestrians-Die-And-The-Rest-Spend-Months-In-A-Rehab-Hospital", right? Because if you survive a 50km/h crash, your injuries will be horrifying and life-altering. #NACTO19

Speaking of #VisionZeroTO, can you believe that our leaders decided it was fine to excise the most important traffic calming tool we have OUT of the plan? That's right, protected cycle tracks that slow drivers and protect pedestrians too are not a part of #VisionZero2.0! #NACTO19

That's pure political cowardice in the face of poorly informed 'bikelash'. A black hole where the wholehearted #PoliticalWill to save lives should be. It helps normalize the idea that vulnerable road users are second-class, undesirable citizens. #NACTO19 theglobeandmail.com/drive/mobility…

These 2nd-class citizens, when asking for equitable levels of snow-clearing service from city, were told by our leader to "be reasonable!" Because safe active transportation is UNREASONABLE?! Hopeless for #GenderGap and #AccessibilityRights, too. #NACTO19 cp24.com/news/be-reason…

Many of our leaders also do nothing to dispel myths that hold back #RoadSafety efforts. Which would be worse: that they don't make the effort to understand infrastructure design and #RoadViolence, or they do know better and keep quiet anyway? #NACTO19 thestar.com/news/gta/2019/…

Before you praise Toronto's leadership, please consider the vulnerable road user who dies EVERY WEEK on average because top priority is convenience and speed for car drivers. Toronto has had THREE YEARS to move the needle on #RoadViolence and Toronto has UTTERLY FAILED. #NACTO19

Our loved ones, our wives, our husbands, our children, our parents, our siblings are DEAD. They are DEAD because of #RoadViolence enabled by #TODeadlyStreets. We have paid the toll for political inaction, in our lives, in our hearts and in our bodies. IT'S GOT TO STOP. #NACTO19

Some Toronto leaders and all of you NACTO delegates know what the solutions to #RoadViolence are, but #NACTO19, please know that the support of too many of Toronto's leaders stops at lip service and crocodile tears. To suggest otherwise is an insult to our loved ones.

Let's end on a hopeful note. What do we need from our leaders? What should they - and especially @JohnTory - do to #StopTheCarnage on #TODeadlyStreets? #NACTO19

-Support #TransformYonge. It's OK to change your mind! It's not weakness to decide to do the right thing to save lives

-Fight to reduce speed - THROUGH ROAD REDESIGN, NOT SIGNS - to 40km/h on arterials. Not fighting for this is a clear indication that convenience for one segment of road users is more important than human life. Speed reduction is #1 effective measure to #StopTheCarnage. #NACTO19

-Acknowledge #RoadSafety is about PRIORITIES, not balance. "Balance" is code for maintaining the #TODeadlyStreets status quo that serves no one well. "Balance" means continuing to sacrifice one loved person per week on the altar of #CarCulture. #NACTO19

https://twitter.com/brenttoderian/status/829872733836095489

-Acknowledge that building #CompleteStreets will NOT cause some kind of carmageddon. No city destroyed itself by building #SafeStreets. In fact, #CompleteStreets have repeatedly proven to be good for business, good for health, to save money, and most of all, SAVE LIVES. #NACTO19