The city has launched a road safety campaign urging drivers to slow down and watch for pedestrians as daylight hours dwindle.

Mayor John Tory kicked off the initiative at a city transportation facility near King Street West and Dufferin Street on Friday morning, ahead of clocks turning back Sunday at the end of daylight saving time.

According to the city, collisions involving pedestrians spike by more than 30 per cent during the evening commute hours from November to March.

“I think people know that this time of year is one of the most dangerous times of year for pedestrians and cyclists,” Tory said.

“It is going to require people to change their behaviour, for drivers in particular to pay closer attention, if we are going to achieve our goal of reducing the number of people seriously injured and lives lost as a result of pedestrian- and cyclist-related collisions.”

He called on drivers to “please, slow down, pay attention, stop distracted driving.”

The ads will appear online, on radio and television, in transit shelters and other locations. The mayor said a similar campaign in New York City had been successful in reducing dangerous collisions.

In addition to the ad campaign, the city plans to reduce speed limits on 250 kilometres of road by the end of the year as part of its Vision Zero 2.0 road safety plan. Council voted in July to reboot the plan after the original version approved in 2016 failed to curtail pedestrian deaths.

The city also plans to introduce automated speed enforcement in community safety zones in December, pending regulatory changes by the province.

On Monday, police will begin a one-week road safety blitz focusing on speeding, impaired driving, distracted and aggressive driving, which the force says are the most dangerous violations.

So far this year at least 34 pedestrians have been killed in Toronto, according to the Star’s count, which differs from city police statistics because it includes fatal collisions on provincial highways and private property.

Last year, 42 pedestrians died.

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Tory said though he didn’t want to minimize the tragedy represented by the deaths so far this year, the number of pedestrians seriously injured in traffic collisions is going down.

He said the city was working on speeding up physical changes to streets like adding crosswalks and signalized intersections.

“That is going to have a meaningful effect,” he predicted.