Residents call for safety measures on Kingston Road as community mourns pedestrian

Residents in Scarborough are calling on the city to step up traffic safety measures near a busy intersection in the Birch Cliff neighbourhood, as friends of a pedestrian killed while crossing there earlier this week try to raise funds for her family.

Karla Groten, 40, was killed during a hit and run on Thursday afternoon. According to web pages dedicated to her memory, she was a survivor of domestic abuse who left behind two children.

Within a day of her death, two fundraising pages appeared online. One of those fundraisers almost doubled its $10,000 goal in its first seven hours.

"You will always be remembered for your infectious laugh, courage and love for your beautiful babies," one friend wrote on the fundraising page. 

• Arrest made after woman, 40, killed in hit-and-run

"Karla was such a bright light. This year has been a rough one for me," shared another. "I became very ill and Karla would message me all the time to check on my health."

Groten was trying to cross Kingston Road at Warden Avenue, according to police, when she was struck. Groten suffered significant internal injuries and died at the scene.

A 28-year-old Toronto man who allegedly hit Groten and then fled was arrested a short distance from the intersection. He was charged with impaired driving causing death, criminal negligence causing death, over 80 causing death, dangerous driving causing death, failure to stop causing death and failure to stop fail to give name, according to police.  

While impaired driving was allegedly a factor in the collision, residents in the neighbourhood said there has been widespread concern about safety at the intersection, and on Kingston Road more generally, for years. 

"This area has sort of been off the radar, considered this quiet little community, but the development has really been coming along and safety hasn't kept up with it," said Natalie Rennie, a mother of two young children who lives just south of the intersection and uses it daily, often with her kids. 

"On an almost daily basis, there are issues. And it's really quite alarming."

'It's really become a residential road'

Rennie went on maternity leave earlier this year and said the problems were readily apparent as she started crossing Kingston Road more often to access retail shops on Warden. She said it's common knowledge among those in the community that the intersection is dangerous but "still nothing has been done."

The area is undergoing some densification, with 10 mid-rise developments under construction at various points nearby. Lane closures and other impediments have increased commutes to downtown along Kingston Road by about 10 minutes each way, Rennie said. Drivers are "frustrated" by the time they reach Birch Cliff and other neighbourhoods. 

"People think of Kingston Road as the old highway and they don't look at Birch Cliff as a community. But now that we're growing with all these condos it's really become a residential road," she said.

Kingston Road is designated as a highway, which directly influences posted speed limits. 

Drivers tend to drive faster and faster as the major thoroughfare opens up going eastbound, explained Coun. Gary Crawford (Scarborough Southwest). He called Groten's death a "very tragic loss" and said that "speeding and safety are absolutely top of mind in my ward."

'We need some action'

Crawford added that city staff have been working on a traffic safety review for stretches of Kingston Road since at least the late spring. Some traffic calming measures on the table for the area include reducing the speed limit, adding street parking or installing another stop light at Manderly Drive, one block east of Kingston and Warden. 

"The challenge of course on Kingston Road is the huge volume of cars that are driving on it," Crawford said. 

He will be hosting a public meeting in the new year to discuss viable options to improve safety.

Rennie told CBC Toronto that residents have grown weary of city inertia on the issue.

"I hope that [Crawford] comes with a plan, instead of saying, yet again, 'we're going to look into it.' There's already been a death now, and we need some action."

Posts in a community group on Facebook echoed that sentiment. 

"I don't care who was at fault here, it's a dangerous intersection and action was needed well before today," one person wrote. "Please act."