Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist Jerry Waese.

A statistical study by Global News of pedestrian accidents 2000-2009 has found that the end of November is the most dangerous time of year for pedestians. Eight out of the ten worst days for vehicles hitting pedestrians were between Nov. 21 and Nov. 30. The City of Toronto pedestrian collision study (PDF) showed an increase in pedestrian collisions during the months when the days are getting shorter and are at their shortest -- October to January. It seemed to suggest that increasing darkness -- probably during rush hour -- was a cause of increasing collisions, but the report refused to delve into this question more deeply.

Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist Jerry Waese.

Gone are the days when (at least I imagine) a man would stand at the side of a road and manually tally the number of vehicles, or carriages that would pass. Roads are becoming more and more connected, and forming intelligent systems. These systems are fed by thousands of sources of information at any given moment, which lead to many uses including the real-time traffic feature on our GPS devices and smart phones. On a municipal level, road sensors (usually embedded in the road) are used to provide counts of road usage. These real-time counts provide planners and the government with data which also determine whether you get an advanced green, or how long the green will be, and what the messages on digital signage alerts will be. These sensors are able to distinguish between cars, trucks, buses and bicycles. On a larger scale, the city performs a Cordon Count every five years to determine short and long term transportation plans and policy according to traffic entering the outer limits of the city, as well as the downtown core.

Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist Jerry Waese.

It’s often touted among cycling advocates in our city that there was a time when Toronto ranked as North America’s #1 cycling city. One could say it all started with the installation of the City's first bike lane on Poplar Plains in 1979 (photo above). In more recent years, progress on this front has been slow, and in some cases we’ve even seen regression. Though a lot of progress was made in the past decade or so, a lot of what you see on Toronto’s streets was implemented prior to the city’s amalgamation. An article in the Toronto Star last week got me thinking about what path Toronto could be on had we not amalgamated. In Montreal, the borough of Le Plateau-Mont Royal is facing some backlash to the Mayor’s recent changes to the area’s streets. New bike routes and traffic calming are funneling through-traffic off of local streets and onto major thoroughfares. According to some shop owners, the increase in traffic congestion along these routes is bad for business. I personally extol the livability as well as financial benefits of street planning that caters more to patrons who arrive by foot, bike and public transit, rather than private car (see my research here and recent developments in Portland). However, some Plateau merchants claim that these street changes have so strongly impacted their businesses’ bottom line that many shops have already had to close.

Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist Jerry Waese.

While I attending Earl Haig Secondary School in the early 1990s, the construction of subway lines suddenly became a fascinating interest to me. There was a debate raging at the local level about whether residents would support North York mayor Mel Lastman's dream of a Sheppard subway line — which would be built about 1km away from my childhood home. At the same time,  a new station was being added to the Yonge line — North York Centre — two blocks away from my high school. Fast forward a decade: I was working as the art director of The Hockey News and the magazine's office had just moved from Yonge and College and into the Nestlé building at Yonge and Sheppard. By this time, I was reverse commuting, taking transit from Little Italy up to "downtown North York." The Sheppard line had been under construction for 2 years and was another year from opening. On the first day the line opened, I took a ride to Don Mills and back. I got out and examined the art on each platform and the architecture of the stations. At that point, I had spent 10 years listening to my grandparents (active residents association members), neighbours, and local politicians talk about how great the subway was going to be for the area. Sadly, I was underwhelmed. And after another 10 years of watching the subway in operation — mostly as a public space advocate and civic commentator — I still feel that the Sheppard line has failed to meet much of the potential that was promised to residents. Which brings me to Rob Ford's promise from the 2010 election. It seems, come hell or high water, he wants to build an extension east from Don Mills station out to Scarborough Town Centre. This may be the only promise he made during the election that he seems willing to keep.

Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist Jerry Waese.

Mercifully, Toronto has so far been spared the smog days which have defined summers of the past. This respite from smog days however belies the true condition of the air we breathe and the toll that air pollution takes on each and every one of us. Air pollution and the broader category of public health have long been the great equalizer in debates over public policy.  Modern urban planning emerged out of the needs to address common public health concerns.  Rich or poor, cyclist or driver we all breath the same air; a simple fact that may be one of the most powerful arguments against investing in increased automobile capacity. Talk of pollution from personal automobiles often focuses on carbon dioxide and its role in climate change, yet just as tangible are the effects that other emissions from cars are having on our bodies. Air pollution has been linked to increased mortality, respiratory illness, impaired cardiovascular functions and an increased risk of cancer*. A 2010 study out of Harvard University estimated that emissions from vehicles idling in congestion resulted in 3000 premature deaths in the United States in 2005. While new technology is reducing emissions, these gains are being offset by dramatic increases in the amount total vehicle miles traveled (VMT), a measure of the total amount of distance driven by all vehicles. We all know that cars pollute, but we don’t remind ourselves often enough about just what is coming out of a tailpipe and how direct its impacts can be on our health. The pollutants that have been attributed to tail pipe emissions include carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), air toxins such as benzene and formaldehyde, as well as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), which combine to form ozone*.  Environment Canada estimates that passenger vehicles account for approximately 51% of VOC emissions and 21% of NOx emissions in Canada. The link between emissions from personal vehicles and these health effects has been well established. A study conducted during the Atlanta Olympics illustrates this perfectly. In preparation for the crowds, officials closed the downtown to cars and instituted alternative transportation. The resulting 22% decrease in peak hour morning traffic lead to a 13% decrease in ozone levels and a decrease in acute asthma measures of up to 44%.