As part of the City of Toronto’s Vision Zero commitment to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries, the City is undertaking a pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of enhanced pavement markings and signage at select Pedestrian Crossovers. This initiative aims to improve safety for people crossing the road at pedestrian crossovers by increasing yield compliance of people driving.
Between 2014 and 2024, 180 pedestrian collisions were reported where people driving struck a pedestrian crossing the road at a pedestrian crossover. Approximately 12% of involved pedestrians required hospitalization. A 2019 study of select pedestrian crossovers in the City indicated that the average yield compliance rate of people driving was found to be approximately 75%. These figures highlight the need for improved awareness and compliance for people driving at pedestrian crossovers.
The pilot will introduce new measures on approach to and at pedestrian crossovers to provide additional positive guidance to people driving to alert them that they are approaching a pedestrian crossover and may need to yield the right of way. The measures include yield markings (shark’s teeth), in-road flexible signs, zig-zag markings and combinations of these measures. These visual cues are designed to increase awareness and encourage safer behaviour for people driving and using micromobility (including people on bikes).
The pilot includes a mix of pedestrian crossover locations:
Control sites with similar conditions have also been selected to ensure accurate comparisons for the study. During the pilot period all sites will receive different treatments and may not receive all of the pilot measures, this will allow the effectiveness of each measure to be analyzed independently and in combination with other measures.
Findings from the pilot will help guide future safety enhancements at pedestrian crossovers. Updates on the pilot and recommendations following the evaluation will be shared on this page when they are available.