Almost 10 years after first calling for one, a school crossing guard has now been placed at Lyall and Wayland avenues
The long battle to have school crossing guard at the intersection of Lyall and Wayland avenues in the Upper Beach has come to a successful conclusion.
The new crossing guard (her name is Zina) started working at the intersection on Feb. 20, much to the relief of many local parents and residents who were concerned for the safety of students from schools in the area.
Most impacted by the new crossing guard are students at St. John Catholic School as the three-way intersection is at the back (north) entrance to the school. Students from Malvern Collegiate, Notre Dame Catholic High School and Kimberley Junior Public School are also affected, though their schools are not as close by.
“I made the original request on behalf of St. John school, for a school crossing guard at Lyall and Wayland in 2015,” said area resident Carmen Vanderreest.
She and resident Tara Duff, who is the parent lead of the Safe School at St. John’s group and an active member of the School Travel Planning (STP) Committee, have led the charge in making city and school board officials aware of the need for the crossing guard at the intersection.
“To finally have one is such a big safety win for students using this intersection. It’s wonderful for me to see all the work Tara has done to succeed in bringing it across the finish line eight years later,” said Vanderreest.
Duff said it has taken years of advocacy work to get the crossing guard, who works mornings and afternoons in the times before and after classes but not over the lunch period, approved for the Lyall and Wayland location.
“I’m grateful we were able to achieve this for our community, after several years of advocacy and follow up,” said Duff. “This is a step in the right direction for the safety of students and pedestrians.”
Issues with the intersection that raised residents’s safety concerns were that it was a busy three-way stop with lots of students and vehicles, especially during student drop-off and pick-up times.
Traffic on Lyall Avenue travels both east and west, while Wayland Avenue is a one-way southbound street ending at Lyall (directly across from St. John’s north entrance). Traffic that stops at the intersection from Wayland can only turn left or right onto Lyall, which can be tricky with the increased traffic and number of students and pedestrians in the mornings and afternoons.
Duff thanked Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford for his help on getting the crossing guard approved as other attempts in past years had not been successful.
Furthermore, Duff told Beach Metro Community News this week that further safety improvements regarding where and when vehicles can stop near the intersection are upcoming. Also, there are plans to have the crosswalk bars on the pavement repainted in the near future so that they can more clearly seen.
“(City) staff have confirmed they can change the No Stopping hours from 8:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.,” said Duff after talking with Bradford’s office. “As this requires a bylaw change, it will need to go to Toronto and East York Community Council, which will be meeting on April 3. A request has been made for line repainting to refresh the intersection.”
As mentioned, the battle for the crossing guard at Lyall and Wayland has been a long one with many setbacks since 2015.
In an interview with Beach Metro Community News student reporter Josh Tudela late last year, Vanderreest spoke about the dangers of the intersection.
“While walking on the sidewalk, I myself was clipped by a van’s side mirror as it travelled tight along the curb while trying to pass another vehicle. I hate to think what would happen if that mirror had caught my backpack… or worse yet, a child’s head. I believe a crossing guard in a bright reflective vest, holding a red stop sign while blowing a loud whistle will control the traffic, focus driver attention and provide a much better sense of safety for our students and their caregivers,” said Vanderreest.
Duff said in an earlier interview with Beach Metro Community News that parked cars were adding to the danger level at the intersection.
“We have seen cars drive on the sidewalk to pass other cars and swerve to avoid cars opening their doors into the intersection,” she said. “The goal of the STP (School Travel Planning Committee) is to make travel from and to school safer for their students, and a crossing guard will play a pivotal role in the safety of the students.”
However, those concerns were not being acted upon when requests for a crossing guard at the intersection were being made in past years.
Bradford told Beach Metro Community News late last year that a review of the need for a crossing guard at the intersection had been done and his office requested that review. The results of that review came back positive earlier this year.
“I have always supported making our local roads safer, whenever and wherever I can. I have heard about the safety issues during pick-up and drop-off hours from a number of residents in the area and I absolutely support a crossing guard at this location,” said Bradford late last year.
“The School Crossing Guard program has specific requirements that must be met in order for a crossing guard to be approved, and this location at Lyall and Wayland did not meet the necessary thresholds. The School Crossing Guard program has gone out to collect more data at this intersection, due to requests from our office and from residents, and we expect those results back in January 2024. I am happy to support any future crossing guards, and have already asked staff to explore additional safety issues at this location, such as additional traffic enforcement from the Toronto police during peak hours.”
The decision on where crossing guards are deployed in Toronto is made by the School Crossing Guard program which is administered under the city’s Vision Zero road safety campaign.
However, crossing guards are not assigned or hired by the City of Toronto or the Toronto Police Service, but rather by the companies contracted to provide them. Since St. John is located in Beaches-East York, crossing guards in that zone are provided by Synergy Protection Group Inc for the School Crossing Guard (SCG) program.
The SCG has specific data criteria that must be met for a location to be assigned a crossing guard. This is called the “warrant analysis” and it takes into consideration the number of students and the number of “conflicting” vehicles in the area to see if the threshold for a crossing guard is met. In the past, the intersection of Lyall and Wayland had not met that threshold for a permanent crossing guard.
However, the review requested by Bradford’s office took place because the intersection was close to meeting the threshold though it did not actually meet it when the warrant analysis was done earlier.
In fact, Lyall and Wayland did earlier meet the threshold for a crossing guard in the morning, but not for lunch or after school. Since the contract for crossing guards states that they must be assigned a minimum of two shifts a day, it was not possible at that time to assign one for just the mornings at Lyall and Wayland.
Now, however, the threshold has been met for two shifts and crossing guard Zina is at the intersection to help keep local students and pedestrians safe.
— With files from Josh Tudela.
