A councillor is facing criticism from road safety advocates in Toronto after he pushed to overrule staff advice and pilot memorials to victims of road traffic accidents in the city.
Coun. James Pasternak moved to try out adding steel bands to utility poles beside fatal road traffic accidents to commemorate victims, a request he said came from the family of a young girl killed in 2020.
At committee, a trial version of the plan was approved by councillors against the advice of municipal staff, who said it wouldn’t improve road safety and would use city resources.
“This was a unique situation, which I’ve now asked council to approve as a pilot at that corner in respect for the family,” Pasternak told reporters.
Advocate groups, however, sided with city staff and said the motion was a performative motion from elected officials who hold the power to make roads safer and reduce the number of fatal collisions altogether.
“We think a more meaningful memorial approach from the city would be for them to make immediate infrastructure upgrades where a death has occurred to prevent a driver from killing somebody in the same way again,” Jess Spieker, Friends and Families for Safe Streets, said.
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“We would like city resources to go to saving lives and then the community … can then be the ones working with families to place memorials.”
Geoffrey Bercarich is one such community advocate.
He has been leaving white, painted bicycles, known as ghost bikes, at the scene of fatal collisions, including bikes around the city, for years.
He said he thought Pasternak had been well-intentioned but misguided when he forced through the memorial plan against the advice of civil servants.
“I think the councillor in question got caught up in the whole emotional tangent of families,” he said.
“When families lose a loved one on our streets, they’re looking for answers. And when a councillor pretends to give answers instead of actually doing the right thing, which is making streets safer for everyone to use them, it becomes political, it becomes muddied.”
Spieker went further — suggesting Pasternak had backed the memorials rather than voting for road infrastructure like bike lanes, which she said could save lives.
“That’s ridiculous,” the councillor responded when asked about the comment.
“We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars across the city to make our streets safer. I’ve been the strongest advocate for school safety zones, for signalized intersections, for lowering speeds, installing speed humps and of course for bike trails.”
— with files from Global News’ Matthew Bingley
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