New pilot project bans vehicles from street in front of Toronto school

The city continues to take steps to ensure vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and children, are safe, with the launch of a new pilot project that bans cars from a portion of a Toronto street.

“School Streets” launched this week and doesn’t allow vehicles to access a street in front of a Toronto school, as part of a city-sanctioned project that promotes pedestrian safety.

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The pilot will see a portion of Mountainview Avenue in front of Keele Street Public School closed to cars between the hours of 8 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 4 pm from October 28 through 31 with the goal of seeing how well a car-free zone works in the neighbourhood.

👫 IDEA for @KeeleTDSB

Let’s extend #OutdoorPlay 👫👫 & #EmbraceWinter this year with your #SchoolStreet taking advantage of winter! #880streetsMountview has a lovely slope ❄️ imagine kids & toboggans 🛷curling 🥌 or just making snowballs for ☃️☃️☃️ #SnowPlay #JustPlay 🤸🏼‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/VwMvggy9eh

— Janet Joy Wilson (@jsquaredink) October 29, 2019

The pilot is led by non-profit group 8 80 Cities, along with Eco Kids Canada, and the Toronto District School Board Eco School, and is intended to encourage students to walk and cycle to school, reduces pollution, and provides an opportunity for outdoor play before and after school.

We are proud to partner with @880Cities on Toronto’s first-ever #SchoolStreets pilot! Increasing road safety outside of schools encourages students to walk/cycle, reduces pollution, and provides an opportunity for #OutdoorPlay before and after school. #880streets #VisionZero pic.twitter.com/Ho7cC3Alz8

— EcoKids (@EcoKidsCanada) October 29, 2019

Rather than seeing lineups of vehicles waiting impatiently to drop children off, photos shared on social media show kids playing and having fun in the streets.

Run, walk, wheel, hooks hoop! It’s all encouraged at #880streetsmountview! This is what #schoolstreets is all about. pic.twitter.com/19rgqIbV79

— 8 80 Cities (@880Cities) October 29, 2019

What if our streets were designed with active and safe transportation for kids in mind? School drop-off and pick-up might look something like the #880streets pop-up happening today at @KeeleTDSB! @ecokidscanada @880cities @EcoSchoolsTDSB #safestreets pic.twitter.com/lMJqcdsaYw

— Linda Naccarato (@naccarato_linda) October 28, 2019