The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is stepping up safety enforcement when it comes to unsafe drivers of micromobility vehicles, such as e-bikes, e-scooters and other electric vehicles.
On Monday, police launched a traffic safety enforcement campaign titled “Safe Streets, Safe Roads” aimed at increasing the public’s awareness and improving traffic enforcement efforts to enhance the safety of all road users. The two-week campaign began on Nov. 4 and ends on Nov. 17.
As of this year, there have been a total of 16 people killed or seriously injured while operating a micromobility vehicle, according to police.
For this reason, officers will be enforcing the Highway Traffic Act and city by-laws on all micromobility vehicles and stopping those who break the law. Riders could face potential fines starting at $90.
Police say the city is seeing a rise in the use of various forms of electric vehicles, including e-bikes, electric kick-scooters, and electric one-wheeled devices (unicycle and hoverboard).
Meanwhile, e-kick scooters, e-skateboards, e-unicycles and e-hoverboards are prohibited on the road in Toronto.
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Toronto-based lawyer and e-scooter advocate Caryma Sa’d says she hopes the new campaign focuses more on informing users, rather than punishing them for their choice of vehicle.
“Although micro-mobility devices are technically unlawful to use in Toronto, they are nonetheless extremely popular. I hope that any police blitz will focus on education over punishment, with tickets or fines reserved for objectively dangerous behaviour, such as not following traffic signals or speeding on sidewalks,” she said in an email statement to Now Toronto on Tuesday.
“Encouraging road safety is a good thing; penalizing people simply for their choice of device will result in arbitrary and unfair outcomes,” she continued.
She adds that city council should acknowledge that many residents depend on e-scooters and e-bikes as part of their transportation methods which is why police should put an emphasis on having appropriate regulations in place, such as capping speed limits or mandating helmets.
Officers will begin enforcement in the downtown core before making their way into the Greater Toronto Area.
Back in September, the city and police announced that fines will be increasing for blocking the box, which is when a driver enters an intersection on a green or amber signal when there is no reasonable prospect of being able to clear the intersection before the light changes to red.
As a result, the fines were raised from $90 to $450 at most intersections and from $120 to $500 in community safety zones.
