The list of pedestrian deaths on Toronto streets grows ever longer. When it becomes clear that many of the dead were older or elderly, what does that say about our city, that 16 of 23 pedestrians killed so far this year were over the age of 60?

People don’t have to jaywalk. But sometimes older people do because reaching the crosswalk is unachievable. Nobody on the road deserves a death sentence.

It’s a truism that drivers stay safer than cyclists, who are safer than pedestrians. But now there are killer variants. Drivers have moved away from cars to massive SUVs that speed through the city. They’re effectively tanks, their height and mass making it difficult to see pedestrians and strollers, to see whether a cyclist or a walking human has noted your intention to turn.

People look at screens as they walk, as do drivers with screens on the dashboard. The streets are often blocked by condo towers being built right up to the sidewalk rather than set back with a plaza welcoming those on foot. By maximizing use of space, developers make more money. These construction zones often take up a full lane.

These are all minor technological changes. We think we chose them but it’s more that they chose us and we didn’t resist. But there’s one change that cannot be made. Humans are frail. They become frailer as they age.

The Yonge St. van killer knew this: he appeared to aim for women but killed more older women than young. They couldn’t hear the slams and screams behind them, or even the shouted warnings, and weren’t agile enough to leap out of the way.

Mayor John Tory is right to lower some speed limits, but I wish he’d do more. Every main street should have a protected bike lane, with bollards, cement blocks, or raised pavements painted blue.

Yes, cyclists can be aggressive males who preen, fast and mean, believing they have a right to ignore traffic lights or ride on the sidewalks. But they’re still giving us a little more clean air. I’m grateful.

Cars won. We actively favour them over any other transport, despite knowing the carnage they cause on land and in air. Why?

Globe medical columnist André Picard has written an interesting analysis of safe-injection sites. Alberta’s premier, the lovely Jason Kenney, is investigating the damage they do to neighbourhoods.

Picard flips this around. “There are already a lot of supervised consumption sites in Alberta and every province and territory — places where clients can be served their poison of choice unadulterated, in relatively safe quantities and not be judged or jailed. We call these places bars.”

We actively favour alcohol over any other drug despite knowing the vast damage it causes. Why?

Yes, supervised injection sites attract people who prioritize the altered state over health, attentiveness, cleanliness, and also morality, given the source of these drugs. When they need that drug, they really need that drug.

The same is true of alcoholics. In the list of things we illogically favour, alcohol is right up there with the car. I lack the space to expand on a few other candidates, like McMansions (built to match the huge garages needed for SUVs), fossil fuels, and men in charge.

I don’t want safe-injection sites near small children. But a bar would be just as bad. I drink. I like people who drink. I don’t like drunks. They ruin families, workplaces, cities. I live in a province where, thanks to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, people can now buy a drink pretty much anywhere at any time of day.

And then of course they get into their cars.

The long-term effect of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine in the body are horrible to see. We have grown so used to alcoholism that its ravages don’t really register.

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Drinking is a gift when life is hard. But our tens of thousands of safe-drinking sites are marked by vomit, bleeding battered women, barfights, blood, broken glass, cigarette smoke and fear, because we gave booze a free pass.

Here’s an idea. Could we choose new favourites, less-destructive industries to coddle? Cars and alcohol, what did we ever see in them?

Heather Mallick is a columnist based in Toronto covering current affairs. Follow her on Twitter: is a columnist based in Toronto covering current affairs. Follow her on Twitter: @HeatherMallick

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