Editorial: A Child Was Struck at Willowdale and Elmwood. Toronto Shouldn't Need a Study to Install a Light

On the afternoon of Oct. 26, an eight-year-old girl and a 76-year-old woman were crossing Willowdale Avenue at Elmwood Avenue in North York when a northbound driver struck them both. The girl suffered life-threatening injuries; the woman was seriously hurt. The driver, 67, remained at the scene, according to Toronto police. Paramedics took the girl to SickKids, and CityNews reported that the pair were in a pedestrian crossing when they were hit.

Two weeks later, neighbours are asking for something simple: a traffic light. The City of Toronto's answer, so far, is a study. Council should skip the wait.

A crossing drivers don't respect

The intersection already has a pedestrian crossover, with flashing yellow lights that pedestrians activate with a button. Resident Jasmine Yu, whose children attend the same school as the injured girl, told CTV News Toronto that it is not enough. The crossing sits at the top of a hill, and she says drivers don't see it until they are close. "On a daily basis I see pedestrians pressing lights and cars just ignore it," she said.

She has the video to back it up. Footage she shared from about 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 4 shows a pedestrian with a backpack pushing the button while a sedan, then an SUV going the other way, then another vehicle all roll through as the yellow lights flash, CP24 reported. Yu says she gave first aid to a man in his 20s who was hit there in March. Her petition for a signal had almost 500 signatures by late Friday.

The law is not ambiguous. At a pedestrian crossover, Ontario drivers and cyclists must stop and wait until pedestrians have completely crossed and are safely on the sidewalk. Failing to yield carries a fine of up to $1,000 and four demerit points, according to the province. But a rule that drivers routinely ignore at a blind hilltop is not a safety device. It is a hope.

The process is the problem

To its credit, the city moved quickly to look. Staff visited the intersection on Nov. 4 with Coun. Lily Cheng. Mike Barnet, the city's director of enforcement and street management, said staff have requested traffic counts to assess the site against the city's Traffic Control Signal Policy, and that council approval would be needed if a signal is warranted, CP24 reported. No timeline was given.

Police say there have been five reported collisions at the intersection since Jan. 1, 2021, two of them this year. The city says it has received only one service request for a traffic light there since 2025. Those are exactly the kinds of numbers that can make a warrant formula say "not yet." Counts measure how many cars and people pass through. They do not measure the parents who already avoid the crossing, or how close the near misses in Yu's video came.

Cheng has said she can bring a motion to North York Community Council and on to city council, and that, given the video, the hills in both directions and speeding, "I think we can move ahead without necessarily going through a preliminary study." She is right, and she should do it. The new council's first meeting is set for Nov. 18 and 19. Approving a signal for a crossing where a child was critically injured would be a fitting first act.

Fix the interim, too

Even with a fast vote, a signal will not appear overnight. Yu has also asked for a crossing guard, but processing times suggest that could take at least 12 months, and only if funding is available, according to CP24. A year is too long. The city should find a way to staff the crossing at school times now, and police should treat it as an enforcement priority until a signal is in place. Fines double in signed Community Safety Zones, the province notes, a tool the city should consider here.

Cheng also wants to bring back road-safety lessons in classrooms, pointing to Elmer the Safety Elephant. Teaching children to make eye contact before they step off the curb is good advice. But the children in this story were already in a marked crossing, with an adult. The responsibility here sits with the people behind the wheel, and with a city that designs streets they can't speed through.

Toronto has recorded 42 traffic deaths so far this year, and five pedestrian collisions were reported in a single 12-hour period earlier this week, CP24 reported. Willowdale and Elmwood is one corner. It should not need another collision to get a red light.