Walk Toronto has joined Friends and Families for Safe Streets in calling for the City of Toronto’s Vision Zero 2.0 plan to include a reduction in the default speed limit on arterial streets to 40 km/hr and on local streets to 30 km/hr.
Nearly all serious injuries and deaths (83%) happen on arterial roads. We know that when adriver hits a pedestrian at 50 km/h, there is an 85% likelihood that the impact will kill thepedestrian. The fatality rate falls to 30% at speeds of 40 km/h. Not only does lowering the speedlimit to 40 km/h drastically improve someone’s chances of surviving a collision, but driving at alower speed can help avoid collisions entirely.
