Friends and Families for Safe Streets

What we already knew would happen is happening: the new charge (careless/dangerous driving causing death/injury), used to replace the call for a true Vulnerable Road User law, is ineffective: It's rarely laid It's convicted less than half the time (80 out of 144) which means drivers are pleading down to a lesser charge The ultra-rare convictions still result in insultingly light penalties (max penalties never placed at sentencing) Only 4 jail sentences out of 144 charges,... usually less than 20 days Only 30 license suspensions out of 80 convictions (!!!) The difference with #Bill62 is that no matter what charge the driver pleads down to, they would still face significant, meaningful penalties for killing or severely injuring a human being: License suspension until Mandatory driver re-training Mandatory appearance in traffic court Community service related to road safety '"The numbers just paint, in big red letters, clearly with evidence, what we already knew was the case, which is that drivers don’t face appropriately serious charges when they gravely injure others, said The Biking Lawyer.' 'The province treats such offences like they’re unpaid parking tickets..."The idea around just continuing to hand out fines when somebody is killed or seriously injured is sending a very low deterrent to the public," said Patrick Brown.' Our thanks go to Jessica Bell for re-tabling this bill in 2018 and keeping it alive. We hope, now that the unsurprising inefficacy of the new dangerous/careless charge has come to light, that the provincial government will pass #Bill62 and finally give #RoadViolence victims justice. Please sign the petition for #Bill62 here: https://www.jessicabellmpp.ca/protecting_vulnerable_road_us On a serious note, healing is impossible after a driver kills your loved one, or shatters your life/health, when you don't get justice. Victims at least deserve that. How can we be dealt a life sentence but the driver who dealt it doesn't even get re-trained? How is it that bereaved families read their victim impact statements to an empty chair because the driver didn't bother to show up? How is it that the driver just can pay a paltry fine, as if that's all our lives were worth? At least some kind of community service relating to road safety would drive home the lifelong gravity of their actions. https://www.thestar.com//a-new-ontario-law-was-meant-to-pu

Join our spokesperson Jess Spieker with Tom Flood at this year's Cycle Toronto advocacy forum! Their panel 'Communicating Your Message' is Wednesday at 12:00pm and there are many other interesting panels too. Registration is free for members. It's well worth joining if you're interested in advocacy to shape your city for the better. https://www.cycleto.ca/event/2021-advocacy-forum

It's been 3 years since Kim Pape-Green, loving mother of 3, was killed by a careless driver and suddenly ripped from her family. Nothing has changed to prevent this from happening again - no street design, no laws, nothing. Today and every day, our hearts are with Kim's family in their grief. #RoadViolence #PoliticalWill #WalkTO It is absolutely maddening that as a society, we are so numb and selfish that we wouldn't at least fix the design flaws that enable/induce #RoadViolence to honour a person's memory and make sure it can't happen again. Too many politicians, the bottleneck through whom these infrastructure-related decisions flow, are willfully blind to the devastating consequences of #CarCulture.

Two years ago, Asim Siddiqui was killed by a dump truck driver on #TODeadlyStreets at Allen/Lawrence. Toronto has had TWO YEARS to make the intersection safer, and done nothing. Eternal question: what does it take to get urgent, lifesaving action? #PublicHealthCrisisTO #ZeroVisionTO Any street/intersection where a fatality is inflicted should be re-designed to #VisionZero standards, immediately. The failure by elected leaders to live up to their Vision Zero promises is to ack...nowledge that they're perfectly comfortable with the violent, sickening death toll. #hypocrisy What could the city have done? MANY THINGS. Tighten turning radii or create a protected intersection w/bollards or curbs, add leading pedestrian interval or dedicated pedestrian crossing interval, universal ban of right turns on red, limit when lethal dump trucks can operate, prohibit vehicles with such poor sight lines the driver might as well be driving blindfolded. The pandemic has shown us that swift political action to save lives is completely possible, it just takes #PoliticalWill, sadly mostly missing from all 3 levels of government (municipal/provincial/federal). #RoadViolence is a life sentence for victims, bereaved families and communities, while killer drivers' lives go right back to normal. Shame on every decision-maker who still doesn't take #RoadViolence seriously, and actively obstructs life-saving changes like #SafeStreets or #Bill62. Blinding #CarCulture means fighting for safe, survivable streets is perversely difficult, but we won't give up until every loved one can get home to their family alive, until walking across a street in a crosswalk on a green light *isn't* a death sentence. #PublicHealthCrisisTO Anniversaries of #RoadViolence death are unspeakably painful and traumatic. On this day and every day, our hearts are with Asim's family. Asim should still be alive; his son should still have a father. There are no words to reduce the pain, but you are not alone. #TODeadlyStreets

Two years ago, a young woman named Jessica Renee Salickram was violently and preventably killed by a driver. She had just gotten off of a TTC bus on a dangerously-designed, poorly-lit street in the snow without a crosswalk at night. #TODeadlyStreets #WalkTO #PublicHealthCrisisTO Jess’ mom: Jess was one of the bright lights in our family. She had a great love for her family, she was beautiful, kind and was looking forward to a bright future in journalism. Jess was on her way ...Continue reading

ICYMI: Friends of FFSS, if you want to support us and some other worthy orgs, go download this original xmas tune! It's super-good!! Eternal gratitude to our friends Tom Flood and Pat Rijd. Xmas can be very sad and empty without our loved ones, and we are very, very touched by this. https://floodrijd.bandcamp.com/track/streets-of-snow

These faces are a small handful of the loved, valuable human beings who have been violently killed or injured on #TODeadlyStreets, but we honour and remember each and every person. We need far more #PoliticalWill and action to build #VisionZeroTO to put a stop to this #PublicHealthCrisis. #WDoR2020 #SpeedKills

UPDATE: Due to 100km/h winds forecasted, we are moving the event to a private location indoors. PLEASE DO NOT GO TO CITY HALL. Look for photos of the event here, and if you have been harmed by road violence, you are warmly welcome to register for the online candle-lighting ceremony. Link is in the details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1527093437679430/

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is Sunday. It's a time to take a moment to think about the people that have been seriously injured and kil...led on our streets and what can be done to prevent more suffering. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REOhboD2S_Q&feature=youtu.be

To mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims this year, on Sunday November 15 we're setting up a display of ghost shoes in front of City Hall for sunset. If your loved one has been ripped away from you, or you have survived severe trauma from road violence, you are not forgotten, and you are not alone. Note: Because of Covid-19, this event is not intended for public attendance. Please watch our social media for images and news coverage, and participate in the online candle-lighting ceremony. However, if you feel strongly called to be there, masks and physical distancing are required.

This coming Sunday marks the 25th World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Because we cannot gather in person, please join us online at 8:00pm on Sunday Nov 15 for a candle lighting ceremony in honour of the loved human beings killed on our streets, and those who have been severely injured by preventable road violence. If you have been hurt by road violence, you are not alone and your loved ones are not forgotten. Pre-registration is required (see link to registration in event details). #WDoR2020