Traffic piling up, drivers rushing through lights and the stress of crossing three-way intersections are some of the most noticeable concerns about Flemingdon Park for Nathaniel Hailu.
He’s lived in the neighbourhood for a month and has been visiting family there for seven years. On July 14, at a town hall hosted by Flemingdon Park councillor Jon Burnside (Ward 16 Don Valley West), Hailu shared his concerns about the safety of the St. Dennis Drive and Linkwood Lane intersection.
“It could be quite dangerous crossing that street,” Hailu told The Green Line. “I’ve seen collisions occur. I’ve seen numerous occasions where there are very close calls.”
“Even myself, whenever I cross the road [at] that intersection, I always try to be as careful and really [make] eye contact with drivers as much as possible,“ he added.
The good news is that something’s already being done about this.
New road safety measures are coming to Ward 16 Don Valley West — and Ward 15 Don Valley East, where the local councillor Rachel Chernos Lin was also fielding questions about traffic calming measures at a coffee chat just a day before Burnside’s town hall.
What are the road safety issues in Don Valley East and West?
Toronto’s seen 212 fatalities and 1154 serious injuries on the road since 2022, according to Vision Zero data. In Don Valley West, there were 33 serious injuries in that time frame, and one death in 2023.
“We regularly receive complaints about cars speeding through neighbourhoods,” Don Valley West Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin said.
She explained that a factor of all the traffic in her neighbourhood is drivers looking for shortcuts and being routed through small residential streets by navigation apps.
“We hear about speeding in school zones. We hear about speeding in residential zones. It’s just probably one of the things we hear about the most.”
Lin said when she was canvassing for the councillor by-election in 2024, almost every single house on York Mills complained about speeding drivers. Her office has also heard complaints about speeding on Yonge, Bayview and Mount Pleasant South.
A little further east in Ward 16, Hailu and other residents have also noticed cars speeding through intersections in Flemingdon Park. One of them is Grenoble Drive and Deauville Lane.
📸: Yara El Murr/The Green Line.
“Basically that intersection could really benefit from some changes, because it’s again a three-way stop sign and I’ve seen collisions occur there,” Hailu said. “We even heard some things on the news. There’s a lot of kids that cross that road.”
In the past four years, Ward 16 Don Valley East has witnessed 36 serious injuries, a majority along Highway 404 — and five fatalities, including a man in his seventies struck by a vehicle this past April on Pinebrook Avenue and Bartley Drive.
All in all, every year since 2022, one person has been killed on the road in that ward.
The intersection at St. Dennis Drive and Linkwood Lane, which Hailu asked about in the town hall, has long been a problem. Collision history by the Toronto Police Service for the three years up until fall 2024 showed that five collisions at this site were potentially preventable by traffic control signals. Two of these collisions involved pedestrians. When The Green Line visited the intersection in late July, a local trying to catch the 100 bus said she had almost been hit three times, and the community has needed safety measures for years.
What road safety measures are coming?
The City of Toronto has been rolling out changes as part of its Speed Management Strategy, which was outlined in the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan.
As part of the program, the City is replacing speed limit signs in neighbourhoods to reduce the maximum speed on local roads from 50 km/h or 40 km/h to 30 km/h.
“Our ward is currently being done right now,” Coun. Lin said. “So you’re going to see, when you come into a neighbourhood in Ward 15, as you enter that neighbourhood off of the bigger street, you’ll see a sign that says 30 kilometres,” she explained.
Every ward in Toronto also has portable “Watch your Speed” signs that can be installed on roads that residents are concerned about. They rotate between locations for about six to eight weeks, Ward 15 Don Valley West Coun. Lin told The Green Line.
“When people write to us about a problem location, we’ll often add them onto that list, so that it will be cycled through,” she explained. “We give feedback often to staff on where our primary locations are that we’re worrying about. That’s how you get one — surprisingly easy.”
There are eight of these signs in the neighbourhoods she serves. Wilmar Kortleever, the local traffic expert at Lin’s office, shared some of the current and upcoming locations as of July 28, 2026:
- Mount Pleasant Road near Stibbard Avenue, a location where residents were concerned about speeding.
- York Mills Road near Old York Mills Road.
- Signs will be coming to Chipstead Road off of York Mills Road, Dawlish Avenue and Lawrence Avenue — “another road where we’ve heard complaints before,” Kortleever says.
The ward is also getting new pedestrian-operated buttons this summer or early fall at Sutherland and Bayview at the entrance to Mount Pleasant Cemetery and at Parkhurst and Bayview, Coun. Lin said.
Bayview being a major area of concern, the councillor said staff installed a stop sign last year; a speed hump will also be installed.
Speed humps usually take about a year to install, as they require City evaluations, approval and budget, as well as community support.
“In order to get those done, usually we do a poll to make sure a good percentage of the people who live on the street or in that section of street are in favour of it,” Lin said.
“You really need buy-in,” Kortleever added. “It’s also not as immediate as getting a policeman right there or putting a sign up because it can take a little bit. You need to get community support, then it needs to be approved by the community council. Then it costs quite a bit of money — thousands of dollars.”
📸: Yara El Murr/The Green Line.
An easier mitigation method that’s been effective for the neighbourhood is law enforcement speed traps, Lin said. She often directs constituents to report problems to the police as it can help determine where traps are set.
“We know that’s a huge deterrent if people are worried that they’re going to get a ticket. It really works,” she added. “ASE [Automated Speed Enforcement] really worked. That was incredibly effective, and the data was really, really pretty, pretty clear.”
Long-term road changes are also possible, but they’re often slower and more expensive.
“When you consider what’s a Vision Zero road and how do we build our roads to make them safer for pedestrians, safer for cyclists, safer for cars. It’s things like having those bump-outs, rounded corners and all of those kind of Vision Zero enhancements to streetscape design,” Coun. Lin said. “But those take time, and they’re being put in as we redo roads.”
In fall 2024, the North York Community Council heard the plea of local councillor Jon Burnside and his constituents and approved the installation of a traffic light at St. Dennis Drive and Linkwood Lane. It should be up and running by the end of September.
“Now, do I think that the traffic lights will completely resolve the issue? I think probably 90% of it, because at least it’ll clearly indicate when drivers need to proceed and also come to a full stop,” Hailu said. “So it seems like that should resolve at least the issue for traffic safety as long as drivers are willing to respect the traffic signals.”
“It’s important to make sure to take these safety initiatives seriously, because of course, we don’t want these very preventable collisions — for the most part,” he added.
Come back to THEGREENLINE.TO next month for a step-by-step guide on how you can make Toronto roads safer.
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