Item - 2023.IE7.4

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee recommends that:  

1.  City Council adopt the updated 2023 Traffic Calming Policy as detailed in Attachment 2 to the report (October 12, 2023) from the General Manager, Transportation Services.

2.  City Council amend §27-18.4B(9), Traffic Calming, of City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 27, Council Procedures, as follows:

a.  by deleting from subsection (a)[3] the phrase: “Chicanes” and inserting the phrase: "Speed cushions";

b.  by deleting from subsection (b) the phrase: "that do not have an established Toronto Transit Commission route"; and

c.  by deleting subsection (c):

"Despite Subsection B(9)(b), the authority to waive petition and polling requirements under the City's Traffic Calming Policy for traffic calming proposals."

3.  City Council adopt the 'Framework and Expanded Criteria for Establishing Community Safety Zones', detailed in Attachment 3 to the report (October 12, 2023) from the General Manager, Transportation Services for creating Community Safety Zones outside of School Zones.

4.  City Council rescind the Community Safety Zone designations and / or designate the Community Safety Zones and authorize the amendments to Schedule XXXIII to City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 950, Traffic and Parking, generally as set out in Attachment 4, as amended by Infrastructure and Environment Committee, to the report (October 12, 2023) from the General Manager, Transportation Services.

5.  City Council designate the school locations as Community Safety Zones and authorize the amendments to Schedule XXXIII to City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 950, Traffic and Parking, generally as set out in the report (October 12, 2023) from the General Manager, Transportation Services.

6.  City Council renew the previous request to the Ontario Minister of Transportation to change the maximum Blood Alcohol Concentration for all licensed motorcycle drivers to 0 percent.

7.  City Council request that the Ontario Minister of Transportation create a provincial Impaired-Driving Task Force to support the prevention, awareness, enforcement and treatment of impaired driving and to generate more collaboration and consensus for effective solutions to address impaired driving across Ontario.

8.  City Council amend the Zebra Crosswalk Policy to include zebra crosswalks at mid-block school crossing guard locations with active guards.

9.  City Council authorize the inclusion of collector roads within designated areas with a speed limit of 30 kilometre per hour under Section 950-701 of City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 950, Traffic and Parking, subject to listed exclusions.

10.  City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce the necessary bills to give effect to City Council's decision and City Council authorize the City Solicitor to make any necessary clarifications, refinements, minor modifications, technical amendments, or by-law amendments as may be identified by the City Solicitor or General Manager, Transportation Services, in order to give effect to Recommendations 1 through 9, above.

11. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board and Toronto Parking Authority in partnership with Transportation Services to improve the safety of vulnerable road users by following the lead of Calgary and Montreal and acquiring at least 10 mobile automated licence plate readers for use, as a pilot project, primarily in enforcing parking offences that adversely affect the safety of vulnerable road users, such as obstructing bike lanes and blocking visibility at intersections, and to include an evaluation of the effectiveness of this pilot project in the overall parking strategy report scheduled for 2024.

12. City Council direct Financial Services to earmark, where feasible, the revenue from the parking tickets collected through the pilot automated licence plate reader project to the pilot project, to the extent necessary to recover the cost of the project.

13. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to report, at least once a year, on how Toronto’s lack of safe infrastructure for vulnerable road users is affecting Toronto’s air quality, climate, public health and congestion goals.

14. City Council affirm the importance of safety in construction zones whereby staff:

a. Manage construction zones with priority emphasis to emergency vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, while also ensuring worker safety;

b. Ensure safe, accessible and well-marked paths of travel for pedestrians in all construction zones; and

c. Maintain protected cyclist infrastructure to the greatest extent possible with well-marked signage and leveraging best practices from other jurisdictions.

The General Manager, Transportation Services, and the Director, Project Design and Management, gave a presentation on Updates on Vision Zero Road Safety Initiatives - New Traffic Calming Policy, Community Safety Zone Criteria, Zebra Marking Policy, Approach to Area-Based Speed Limit Reductions and Related Council Requests.

The City Council adopted Vision Zero Road Safety Plan is a comprehensive action plan focused on eliminating traffic related fatalities and serious injuries on Toronto's streets. Since the inception of the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan in 2017, the City's investment in and delivery of the plan is making a difference - the number of fatalities and serious injuries have been on the decline. No loss of life as a result of traffic collisions is acceptable - Transportation Services is committed to working with City Council and the public in continuing to build on progress made to date, to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries on Toronto's roadways.

The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan as well as several requests made by City Council of the General Manager, Transportation Services. This report is divided into four sections, covering the following initiatives:

1.  Overall update on the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan

2.  Proposed update to the Traffic Calming Policy

3.  Update on Automated Enforcement and Community Safety Zones

-  Proposed framework guiding the creation of Community Safety Zones outside of school zones

-  New and revised Community Safety Zone designations within school zones to support Automated Speed Enforcement

-  Update on Automated Enforcement Programs

4.  Report back on other Vision Zero Tools and related City Council requests

-  Report back on impaired driving in consultation with Toronto Police Service

-  Minor update to the Zebra Marking Policy to add mid-block school crossing guard locations

-  Updates on area-based speed limit reductions

-  Report Back on Traffic Control Warrants and Complete and Safe Street Design Considerations

1. Overall update on the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan: The Vision Zero 2.0 Road Safety Plan adopted by Council in 2019 recommended a set of extensive, proactive and targeted initiatives, informed by data and aimed at eliminating serious injury and fatalities on Toronto’s roads. This report provides an update on key accomplishments to date and a summary of recent data trends on safety outcomes.

2. Proposed update to the Traffic Calming Policy: Requests from Council to review the existing 2002 Traffic Calming Policy provided an opportunity to propose updates to the policy in alignment with the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan with the objective of delivering more traffic calming measures (speed humps and speed cushions) because they are a cost-efficient, effective, and quick tool to improve safety of neighbourhood streets, as well as to propose  process changes to more effectively support other speed management measures like local road speed limit reductions.

3. Update on Automated Enforcement and Community Safety Zones: these sections all address different tools associated with Automated Enforcement as well as the establishment of Community Safety Zones

Proposed Framework Guiding the Creation of Community Safety Zones Outside of School Zones:  Staff was directed to develop a framework to evaluate requests for Community Safety Zone designations in order to implement Automated Speed Enforcement outside of school zones. This report seeks approval on a framework for expanding Community Safety Zones beyond school frontages to areas across the community to enable the expansion of Automated Speed Enforcement.

New and Revised Community Safety Zone Designations within School Zones to Support Automated Speed Enforcement: Staff is recommending updates to some existing Community Safety Zones as well as adding new ones in school zones to support Automated Speed Enforcement for particular locations.

Update on Automated Enforcement Programs: This report includes an update on the City's Automated Enforcement efforts including Automated Speed Enforcement evaluation and options for possible program expansion.

4. Report back on other Vision Zero Tools and related City Council requests: these sections all address different tools to support the continued delivery of the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan, some of which are City Council-directed

Report Back on Impaired Driving in Consultation with Toronto Police Service: As directed by City Council, staff have reviewed statistics related to impaired driving as well as outlining approaches taken to address this ongoing concern to road safety.

Minor Update to the City's Zebra Marking Policy to Add Mid-block School Crossing Guard Locations: Staff have identified that mid-block locations with active school crossing guards are currently not eligible for zebra markings and propose to add these locations to improve visibility.

Updates on Area-Based Speed Limit Reductions: Staff have received feedback from Councillors and residents that, as part of the ongoing 30 kilometres per hour speed limit reductions, the exclusion of 30 kilometres per hour collector roads in speed limit areas has resulted in confusion and extra signage. This change will allow the modification of the speed limit areas to reduce the number of signs.

Report Back on Traffic Control Warrants and Complete and Safe Street Design Considerations: These sections include a report back on updated warrants to evaluate all-way stop control, pedestrian crossovers and traffic control signals as well as a summary of efforts taken to date to ensure that Complete and Safe Street designs are considered for every major road rehabilitation project.