City of Toronto hopes to improve traffic congestion by putting traffic wardens in place
In order to improve the flow of traffic a major Toronto intersections, mayor John Tory says that the city will be deploying full-time traffic wardens.
A pilot project was run in two stages this past year to test the effectiveness of utilizing law enforcement in this way. The pilot projects were run by paid duty Toronto police officers and successfully managed to reduced bottlenecking in high-traffic areas of the city. Thanks to changes made to the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, full-time traffic wardens will be put in these areas permanently.
"The results of the pilot project are in and the pilot project worked," Tory told reporters. "I am here today to tell you we are significantly escalating our efforts to keep Toronto moving."
In addition to placing the traffic wardens in high-traffic areas, Tory has also proposed 5 other points in hopes of improve the safety and flow of traffic in the city.
- Place a rapid response team in both the downtown core and at Gardiner/DVP to help clear lanes in the event of a stalled car or minor collisions.
- Encourage utility companies, including Toronto Hydro, to complete non-emergency roadwork resulting in road closures during off-peak hours.
- Come November, install “smart signals” that will be able to monitor traffic flow and change signal lengths accordingly.
- Come October, share traffic data with community-based traffic and navigation app, Waze. This will allow the city’s traffic operations center to have access to more information about traffic patters, in turn allowing app users to better plan their drive through the city.
- Request the city to increase the cost of fines for traffic-blocking offenses.
Tory went on to say "we owe it to drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and transit riders to make sure our city moves in the best way possible. While we have made progress improving how you get around, we can always do more. I am determined to deal with the congestion choking our roads."