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This could become the worst year for Toronto traffic fatalities in more than a decade

by | Oct 21, 2016 | News, Toronto & Area

65 people have died so far this year in traffic-related accidents

Police and firefighters close off the street during a dark and rainy night.

A woman died after being struck by a vehicle in the Leaside area on a dark and rainy Thursday night, one of 18 collisions involving pedestrians that day. (CBC)

After responding to more than 90 collisions in which people were injured Thursday, police are warning Torontonians to be more careful as they drive or cross the street.

Officers responded to 18 collisions involving pedestrians alone on Thursday.

The wet weather may have been a contributing factor to the crashes, but it’s errors made by drivers and those travelling on foot that are really to blame, Toronto police Const. Clint Stibbe said.

One pedestrian died in a collision Thursday. And another was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

It’s one day, however, in what police say is shaping up to be a record year for traffic fatalities in Toronto. So far, 65 people have died in traffic-related accidents. By this time last year, 52 people had been killed.

If two more people are killed this year, it will be the highest number of traffic deaths in 12 years, Stibbe said.

The bulk of those killed in collisions are pedestrians. So far, only one cyclist has died in a crash.

“Collisions are caused because people make mistakes,” Stibbe said, in urging pedestrians, drivers and cyclists to stay alert.

Source: CBC News Toronto