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Toronto police launch ‘zero-tolerance’ March Break pedestrian safety blitz

Beginning on Monday, officers will be hitting the streets looking for speeding motorists, distracted and impaired drivers and/or motorists driving aggressively. Global News

Toronto police will be cracking down on the “big 4” driver behaviours known to put pedestrians at risk, in a week-long “zero-tolerance” traffic enforcement blitz over March Break.

Beginning on Monday, officers will be hitting the streets looking for speeding motorists, distracted and impaired drivers and/or motorists driving aggressively — all behaviours Toronto police deem the main factors behind collisions.

In a release Monday, police said they are launching the blitz with vulnerable road users in mind, after 41 pedestrians were killed in collisions with a vehicle in 2018.

“Over half of these people were 55 years old and older,” the release said.

“We know that collisions are gonna happen, people make mistakes, but what’s totally unacceptable and preventable are collisions that cause serious injuries to people,” said Sgt. Brett Moore.

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“So one of the main focuses of Vision Zero is working with that sort of philosophy of reducing the injuries to vulnerable road users–people that are most at risk, are cyclists, are people that walk around, motorcyclists in the city, and so that’s what we’re focusing on,” Moore said.

As part of the campaign, police said they will also be actively engaging with the community by relying on social media and their media partners to help share and deliver information about the campaign.

The safety blitz and community engagement campaign begins March 11 and ends on March 17.

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