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Toronto trying to reduce vehicular personal injury incidents

On Behalf of | May 16, 2017 | Personal Injury |

The big cities of Ontario are hives of activity seven days a week. Downtown workers swell the numbers on weekdays, and shoppers and sightseers take over on the weekends. Given all the cars, trucks, bikes, motorcycles and pedestrians mixing, accidents seem inevitable, and the risk of personal injury is high. Measures undertaken by the City of Toronto meant to reduce the number of accidents, and road deaths in particular, have yet to prove hugely successful, unfortunately.

As part of an $80 million, five-year plan, the Toronto government took numerous steps to reduce the number of traffic accidents in the city. Pavement markings were improved at over 300 intersections, 400 reduced speed signs went up, and the number of red light cameras were increased to 149, more than double the previous total. Despite that, the injury numbers remain high.

So far, in 2017, 20 people have lost their lives on the streets of Toronto. The total includes 11 pedestrians, eight motorists and one motorcyclist. On May 3, a pedestrian suffered a serious injury in an accident with a car, just blocks away from City Hall where an annual road safety summit was about to take place. When compared with the 2016 statistics, a year in which 77 people died in traffic accidents, it seems that little has changed, so far.

There are many possible reasons for a car accident to occur, including negligence and road conditions. For anyone who suffers a personal injury in a vehicular incident in Ontario, it may not always be clear if compensation is merited, or where it might come from. A skilled lawyer can advise on the best way to proceed with a lawsuit, should that be the right course of action.

Source: xpolice.ca, “Toronto traffic deaths remain high despite $80M safety push“, May 4, 2017