Legislation will give vulnerable road users legal protection

Re-tabled legislation aimed at strengthening existing road safety laws and adding new measures will provide important legal protection for vulnerable road users, Toronto critical injury lawyer Patrick Brown tells Global News.

“Our governments and laws have put a lot of effort into protecting drivers and it is time to protect vulnerable road users,” says Brown, a partner with McLeish Orlando LLP. “A fine for killing or maiming a cyclist, pedestrian, or first responder, should not be equivalent to the cost of repairing a dent in your car.”

The private member’s bill — which was on the verge of second reading — was killed after the provincial legislature was prorogued last month. During a press conference at Queen’s Park on April 10, NDP MPP Catherine Fife said she is re-tabling Bill 158.

Mandatory minimum penalties

The new Bill 37 would apply to 40 offences where a vulnerable road user is killed or seriously injured. It would also result in mandatory minimum added penalties of licence suspension, community service, completion of a driving course and the requirement to be present when the victim impact statement is read.

Unfortunately, Brown says increasing fines and jail time for careless driving is not enough.

In 2016, over 6,000 people were convicted of careless driving in Ontario, and only 16 were sentenced to any time in jail,” Global News reports.

This new law will close the loopholes, Brown says.

The press conference took place exactly a year after cyclist Anthony Smith was seriously injured by a pickup truck in 2017. Smith and Brown were there to rally support for the bill.

Safety advocate

Brown, a safety advocate on behalf of the Coalition for Vulnerable Road User Laws, tells Canadian Cycling that it would be difficult for the Liberal government to turn its back on a law which is being demanded by “the main active transportation groups, the Ontario Brain Injury Association, the United Seniors, and Friends and Families for Safe Streets.

“Even the City of Toronto has passed a motion requesting it,” he tells the magazine. “I am no politician, but I would think one would have to think very hard about ignoring it.”

With a provincial election scheduled for June 7, Brown says there should be a bipartisan bill that the current government can quickly pass.

“Road violence should be an issue all the time until we stop it. Whether one is up for election or not, laws like this should be viewed as non-partisan and the right thing to do,” he says. “The coalition and victims calling for this law do not care who does it. They just want it done.”