December 3rd 2019
To: Councillor Mike Colle, Ward 8
Thank you for hosting the Midtown Town Hall on Monday November 25th 2019. We were pleased to see how many people attended and heartened by the three councillors’ commitment to keeping our streets safer.
We at EPRA would like to reaffirm the Group Letter on Street Safety that was presented at the meeting by John Taranu, product of the collaboration of the members of FoNTRA (Federation of North Toronto Residents’ Associations). To summarize, the letter contained three main points:
- Build Safer Streets
- Increase enforcement
- Require safer trucks and vehicles
We were pleased to hear that the although police enforcement was reduced in the past, there was a request by Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders for a dedicated traffic enforcement team: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/vision-zero-enforcement-team-saunders-1.5360797
In addition, we want to acknowledge the presence of the police officers who have been there on Edith street between 7-9am for those turning onto Edith from Roselawn illegally, as well as from 4-6pm for the northbound traffic on Edith.
EPRA would like to propose three other options for consideration:
4. Reduction of the speed limit on residential streets from 40 to 30 km/h.
In the last few years, there has been talk of reducing the speed limit in the City of Toronto, and the speed limit on Avenue Road between Lawrence and Eglinton was successfully reduced from 50 to 40 km/h, with a radar speed sign installed near Allenby Public School.
5. Penalizing the tinted windshields and windows that are darker than allowed by law.
Mutual eye contact between driver and pedestrians or cyclists at intersections is crucial. However, we too often note, some tinted windshields and windows are too dark to allow this. The law has been around since the Highway Traffic Act R.S.O 1990 c. H.8, s. 73 (1),(2),(3) (revised in July 2016): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/ontario-limits-amount-of- allowable-window-tint-cyclists-rejoice-1.3657694
6. Consider banning or controlling carefully the installation and use of LED (light emitting diode) lights on car lights
The City and, especially, the Provincial and Federal legislators, need to become up to date with the current issue of ‘blinding’ headlights, ever more noticeable as the new, ultra-bright LED car lights are ever more installed. For oncoming drivers, these lights bleach out everything around them, making it very hard to notice pedestrians or cyclists. We have all experienced this in one way of the other.
In other jurisdictions, authorities are gaining information on the situation:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ban-blinding-headlights_b_5a4baf5ce4b0df0de8b06d20 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43525525
In the UK, the Royal Automobile Club has become involved in the discussion.
The UN Working Party on Lighting and Light Signalling seems to be aware of the problem and
working on it: https://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gre/grerep.html
The American Medical Association has recognized that some LED lights on street lights are harmful.This can be extrapolated to car lights: https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press- releases/ama-adopts-guidance-reduce-harm-high-intensity-street-lights
In summary, we applaud you for holding the Town Hall, and we hope the six points above can be helpful in further making our community livable and safe.
Sincerely
Carla Lutchman (vice-chair) and Tom Cohen (chair), on behalf of the Eglinton Park Residents’ Association
Eglinton Park Residents' Association 
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