Over 1,000 pedestrians, cyclists in Toronto involved in vehicle-related crashes since June

Roads and sidewalks in Toronto appear to be getting more dangerous after new figures revealed over 1,000 pedestrians and cyclists have been involved in vehicle-related collisions since June 1.

Urban planner Kyle Miller said he began tracking the numbers in May.

“This started at the beginning of bike month… I thought I would make use of interesting source of data on collisions to track the sort of environment the city was inviting cyclists into,” Miller told Global News.

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Those are startling stats for cyclist Derek Chadbourne, who said he has had some close calls.

“I commute every day and even thought it’s only for 10 minutes each way there is usually something that is endangering,” he said.

Miller said the solution updating infrastructure to meet commuters’ needs.

“The infrastructure has failed people,” Miller said.

“There are not crosswalks where they need to be and there no bike lanes where they need to be. If a cyclist rides on the sidewalk, perhaps they feel unsafe to ride on the road and that’s not a surprise.”

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Councillor Mike Layton called the statistics “disturbing,” adding the city needs to take ownership of the numbers and act fast.

“We need to be looking at how we build our streets and part of that is investing in infrastructure,” Layton said.