Toronto Councillor questions bylaw charges for dumpster in bike lane

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“Totally inappropriate.”

That’s how City Councillor Dianne Saxe describes the City of Toronto laying six minor bylaw charges in connection with a dumpster being dropped in a bike lane where a 24-year-old cyclist lost her life on July 25 after she was hit by a dump truck on Bloor St. W.

Mass Contracting Ltd., which was the general contractor for the nearby parking lot restoration work, faces an encumbering of streets charge, while the disposal bin company – Ontario Trucking and Disposal Ltd. – faces charges that include encumbering of street, placing an object on a street, causing dangerous conditions, unauthorized street occupation and failing to provide proper signage warning public of an obstruction in the street, said the city.

All of the charges are Part 1 offence notices that may carry a maximum penalty of $1,000 each if the accused is found guilty at trial. But if the accused elect to settle out of court, it’s $200 each.

“Part 1 tickets are for minor offences,” said Saxe, a longtime cyclist and the councillor for the University-Rosedale ward where the fatality occurred.

“These offences should be prosecuted under Part 3 where the maximum fines are much larger. (Part 1) is supposed to be used for trivial matters,” she said. “It’s the completely wrong approach for the gravity of the offence.”

The Toronto Sun asked the City why the more serious bylaw charges weren’t laid under Part 3 but no explanation was offered.

The City confirmed the garbage bin was located at 150 Bloor St. W., just east of Avenue Rd., but neither they nor Toronto Police have been able to say how long the dumpster had been in the location.

No criminal charges have been laid at this point.

Saxe says she drove her own bike to get home along the Bloor Bike lanes in that area on the evening of July 24 and the bin wasn’t in the location, but someone else on X posted it was there the morning of July 25.

“I didn’t see it,” Saxe said. “I know also there was (an X post) by the @BicyleMayorTO that he saw it at 8:40 a.m. that morning (of the accident). Typically these bins get dropped off very early in the morning, but I do not have any other evidence of when it was dropped.”

The City of Toronto told The Sun in an emailed statement on Wednesday that “there was no street occupation permit issued for this location.”

“The city wouldn’t give a permit to put something in a bike lane and clearly they didn’t have a permit,” Saxe said. “It is (the truck driver’s) obligation to ensure that there is a proper permit for wherever they deliver their bins.”

“And obviously they didn’t do that,” she alleged.

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Requests for a comment from Mass Contracting Ltd. and Ontario Trucking and Disposal Ltd. on the bylaw charges and the alleged lack of a street occupation permit went unanswered Wednesday evening and all day Thursday.

The deadly accident happened just before 9 a.m. on July 25. The 39-year-old driver of the dump truck remained on the scene.

Saxe said she hoped criminal charges would also by laid by police and that bylaw infractions in bike lanes are frequent in Toronto and she’s pushing for automated licence plate detectors to catch abusers.

“We see it every day,” said the councillor. “We have absolutely rampant breach of the bike lanes. The courier companies, ride share companies, delivery companies, but even all kinds of people. They see a space on the road and they think they’re entitled to put their car there.”

Friends and Families for Safe Streets spokesperson Jess Spieker said in an emailed statement: “The (City) fines for public encumbrance and resulting endangerment are a cruel joke. Anyone would be devastated beyond words for their family member to be killed due to a thoughtless, reckless action like placing a dumpster in the middle of a high-volume cycling route, and the sole consequence be a few $200 fines.”