One day after critics slammed him for saying Vision Zero is “not working,” Mayor John Tory says he’s still committed to the city’s plan to improve road safety and end traffic deaths.

If the plan is failing, road safety advocate and former police traffic officer Kyle Ashley said in response to Tory’s comments, it’s because the city has failed to invest in real change.

“Every single one of these deaths is completely preventable,” Ashley said. “I am hopeful for the future but sad about the past 10 years of road violence.”

According to statistics compiled by the Star using police and media reports, 47 pedestrians and cyclists have been killed so far this year — more than any single year in a police database that goes back to 2007.

Tory’s spokesperson Don Peat said the mayor’s comments, which appeared in an interview with the CBC, came from a much larger discussion in which he expressed his frustration at the “unacceptable number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths we have seen this year in our city.”

“The mayor remains committed to investing in Vision Zero and road safety measures with the goal of saving lives on our streets,” Peat said in a statement Thursday.

City council approved Vision Zero in July 2016, with the goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries on Toronto’s streets by 2021. Over five years council has allocated more than $100 million toward the plan.

“Just this month, Mayor Tory and every city councillor voted unanimously to support a motion that asked the budget committee to consider the allocation of additional funds to Vision Zero in order to facilitate the accelerated rollout of vital elements of the Vision Zero Project.”

In a year-end sit-down with the Star earlier this month, Tory said the increasing number of road fatalities is not due to the city’s inaction. He pointed out a number of changes the city has implemented in order to increase safety, such as around signal timing, crosswalks, the introduction of seniors safety zones, and speed limits.

Instead, he said a lot needs to be done in terms of behavioural change.

“I believe that people, most particularly drivers, are still not responding to the change in reality that there are a lot more people cycling and walking in this city as in other cities and they have not changed their behaviour accordingly,” he said.

Road safety advocates said the mayor’s words reflect an apparent “reluctance” to implement bold changes and make needed investments to achieve Vision Zero.

Walk Toronto steering committee member Michael Black said he was particularly disappointed by the mayor’s suggestion that a “blanket solution” such as lowering speed limits wouldn’t work.

“Advocacy groups have always noted that in order to get successful reduction of traffic fatalities for vulnerable road users, nothing works as well as blanket speed reductions on all streets,” he said.

“So when John Tory says he doesn’t want to do that, he’s basically locking up one of the most effective tools at our disposal, and I’m really disappointed that he’s continuing that strategy.”

Black said the majority of pedestrian and cycling fatalities are happening in the suburbs where drivers are generally opposed to reduced speed limits.

He said Tory should stop talking about balance and perpetuating the status quo, and wholly embrace real change that will bring safety to the streets.

“It’s about political will. It’s about telling drivers that safety and the lives of vulnerable road users is more important than getting home a couple of minutes faster,” he said.

Ashley said the biggest strategy of Vision Zero should be reducing speed on all arterial roadways to 40 km/h and 30 km/h on all residential streets. The city should also increase protected intersections and bike lanes, ban right-hand turns on red lights, continue to educate people about these changes, and hire experts to help.

“We can look to cities like New York,” he said.

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New York City is spending $2.11 billion ($1.6 billion U.S.) over five years, which works out to about $244 per capita, while Toronto’s investment is about $34 per capita. New York says its strategy has resulted in a 45 per cent decline in pedestrian deaths since 2014.

Ashley said Toronto was on the precipice last year when the option to turn Bloor bike lanes into a permanent fixture was on the table, as well as when council rejected the Transform Yonge option in the Willowdale neighbourhood.

“By not listening to city staff recommendations and the community voice, that was a huge failure,” he said. “The vibrancy of our communities and our health depend on our ability for people to walk and play in their neighbourhoods, rather than going on those streets and fearing for their lives.”