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Toronto city council has voted to make side guards mandatory on all commercial trucks operating under contract to the city to protect pedestrians and cyclists.
Side guards will be required for heavy duty commercial trucks operating on city contracts awarded as of May 2027. Council approved the motion with a show of hands at its meeting Wednesday.
Coun. Paula Fletcher, who represents Toronto-Danforth, said the city has begun to install side guards on its own fleet of heavy duty vehicles in the interests of safety.
“When you look at the big trucks and you see how easy it is to get pulled under those wheels,” Fletcher told council.
Last December, council voted to install side guards on all city-owned heavy duty trucks by the end of 2026. The motion says the work has begun and is being done at a pace ahead of schedule.
Every death ‘destroys a family,’ councillor says
Coun. Dianne Saxe, who represents University-Rosedale, said wants to see side guards on trucks not under contract to the city too.
“Every person who is killed by one of these trucks destroys a family. We have the ability to do more about this than we are doing. We are approving what you propose today, but please don’t stop there,” Saxe said.
Coun. Alejandra Bravo, who represents Davenport, said the decision will be welcome in her ward, where there have been preventable deaths by large trucks.
“For this community, which cycles at a higher-than-average rate, the loss of life of two young women is too much to bear,” Bravo said.
“I think we have an opportunity here to make a real life and death difference.”
Coun. Alejandra Bravo, who represents Davenport, says: ‘I think we have an opportunity here to make a real life and death difference.’ (Chris Langenzarde/CBC)Decision to affect about 1,200 trucks, staff say
In a report to council, city staff said the requirement is expected to impact about 1,200 commercial vehicles involved in such work as winter maintenance, snow clearing, road repair, public works and urban forestry.
City staff said the deadline of May 2027 provides enough time for city divisions and suppliers to comply with the requirement.
The report says requiring side guards on commercial vehicles contracted by the city reflects the city’s commitment to its Vision Zero road safety plan and to protecting vulnerable road users.
It also says the requirement ensures vehicles operating under the city’s authority “meet a consistent, enforceable safety standard,” the report says.
Jess Spieker, a spokesperson for the road safety advocacy group Friends and Families for Safe Streets, called on council to go further and require all trucks operating in Toronto to be equipped with side guards. (Michael Cole/CBC)
A May 19 letter to council from Jess Spieker, chair of Friends and Families for Safe Streets, a road safety advocacy group, urged council to approve the motion.
“More victims than we can count have been struck and sucked under the rear wheels of cement mixers, dump trucks and other large commercial trucks and crushed to death, a horrific outcome that side guards are designed to prevent,” Spieker said in the letter.
“This human carnage leaves an unbearable amount of suffering in its wake, with families, friends and communities thrust into lifelong nightmares of grief, anguish, and loss.”
Spieker also called on council to go further and require all trucks operating in Toronto to be equipped with side guards.
“Any business or contractor operating large trucks for corporate profit must not kill innocent Torontonians,” the letter says.