On November 3, 2024 around 7:30 pm, a pedestrian was hit by a car on Jarvis Street. Windshield smashed, head on pavement, bleeding profusely. Community members helped the best we could. This could have been prevented had the City of Toronto responded differently to Laura Toth's plea to Councillor Chris Moise on March 21, 2024. Her request was simple - the installation of a crosswalk on Jarvis Street, between Carlton and Maitland. She had requested this for the safety of nearby residents, as well as the parents and children that visit the National Ballet School. 

The following is an excerpt from Chris Moise's response: "Unfortunately when I raised this request with City staff with Transportation Services, they indicated that a pedestrian crossover (PXO) has been studied here multiple times over the years, and it has never met the warrants for installation.

As a major arterial road that connects to the Gardiner, Jarvis Street is used by tens-of-thousands of vehicles every day. The volume of traffic makes anything other than a traffic signal dangerous to use. There are significant issues with using a traffic signal here however as there are many driveways and curb cuts that would make placing traffic signals here challenging. There also has been, from past studies by the City, relatively few people choosing to jaywalk across this street that would help staff justify a signal."

Chris Moise says few people choose to jaywalk here, yet anyone that lives in the area will confidently tell you how just how wrong Chris Moise is. According to the Toronto Public Health report (2015), every 3 hours, a pedestrian is injured or killed in Toronto which further highlights the urgency of the situation. 

Chris Moise says it’s dangerous to install a crosswalk, but how is that more dangerous than not installing one? It seems more like it may not be a financial priority than a matter of being the safest option. The negligent act of not having a functional crosswalk in a busy community is a glaring oversight we can no longer afford. This is our plea for their safety. We demand the installment of the much-needed crosswalk. Let us not lose another community member to brutality of unregulated traffic. The community knows this is a dangerous area, and now a man has been hit, and he may very well not have been the first. Why has such a simple issue gotten to the point that I had to make a Change.org petition? 

For the safety of our community, for the lives of our residents, now is the time to act. Sign this petition and ensure the City of Toronto listens. Give us our crosswalk, yesterday's collision was preventable. Make sure we don't have more.