Residents say they have been complaining for years about speeding cars on a busy Scarborough street where a 17-year-old pedestrian was struck and killed by a motorist Monday night.

The teen, whose identity hasn’t been publicly released by Toronto police, reportedly tried to cross four lanes of Scarborough Golf Club Road, near Confederation Drive, to meet friends when he was struck by a 21-year-old driver in a southbound 2004 Acura.

Tuesday evening, Toronto police said the investigation was ongoing it was too soon to say whether or not charges would be laid or if speed was a factor.

Neighbours said they have complained about speeding cars on Scarborough Golf Club Road, south of Lawrence Avenue East, and criticized the lack of a crosswalk or a four-way stop sign at the intersection where the pedestrian was struck. The closest traffic light is almost 200 metres away.

The problem is well known to Coun. Paul Ainslie (Ward 24 Scarborough-Guildwood). His office told the Star that as far back as in 2014, he put in a request to the city’s transportation services department to have a traffic light installed at this intersection. City staff turned down the request, but Ainslie applied again last July, and is waiting for a reply from city staff on this, his office said.

In an email to the Star, the department said a feasibility study for the pedestrian crossing is underway and expected to be complete by next April.

Residents said it’s common to see cars zipping by more than 80 km/h in a 50 km/h residential neighbourhood zone.

“It’s like they’re doing a race out here,” said Farhan Tap, who has lived across the street from the collision scene for the past eight years.

“Sometimes I park my car outside on the street just to try and slow people down.”

He said he has called the city several times to complain about speeding drivers, especially the ones heading down to Kingston Road, but nothing has happened.

“Now a kid is dead from a small mistake of just crossing the street,” Tap said. “That could have been my family member or anybody else’s.”

Throughout the day Tuesday, a number of pedestrians and cyclists were observed dashing across the same intersection where the tragic incident took place. There are zebra crossings at stop signs on Confederation Drive, but traffic northbound and southbound on Scarborough Golf Club Road can continue undisturbed.

Siva Vira, who was walking with his 2-year-old granddaughter Diya, has lived in the area for 22 years, and said traffic has gotten worse in recent years.

“Everybody is going so fast and don’t care about speed limit,” he said. “We have kids going to school, seniors, it’s really frightening.”

Mayor John Tory told reporters that people need to change their behaviour, especially drivers, when asked about the latest pedestrian’s death.

“This morning, on the very piece of roadway where the young man lost his life last night, there were people clocking cars doing 79 kilometres per hour in a 50 kilometres per hour zone,” Tory said.

It was the second reported pedestrian death Monday in Scarborough. A 97-year-old pedestrian struck by a motorist earlier this month died from his injuries in hospital Monday, police said.

There have been 29 pedestrians killed on Toronto streets this year, according to data compiled by the Star. Nine of the victims were killed in Scarborough. That’s more pedestrians killed on Toronto roads by this date than in any year in data that goes back to 2007.

Tory said he was “terribly sorry about the tragedies that have happened recently” this year and the years before that.

“Well, my heart is broken for these families because you know, no family should have to go through the kind of tragedy that is happening far too often on our streets,” Tory said. “But I can also say to the public and to those families . . . we have pages of improvements that are taking place to redesign streets, to change intersections, to install technology, red light cameras, photo radar soon to come.”

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An emotional Satha Karuppih, whose house is next to the victim’s family home, said the teen had been sitting outside chatting with his son Monday evening.

“I went to have a shower and when I came back outside it was all over,” he said, standing outside the victim’s home where he and others came to offer support and comfort.

Karuppih described the victim as “a very nice person, who shared a birthday with his own son (they turned 17 on Aug. 23).

“I just can’t believe it,” he said, wiping tears from his face.

Another family friend, Stephen Naderagh, said the victim had two sisters, and he had just started Grade 12.

“Good boy, very nice boy. Everybody likes him around here,” he said.

Sept. 24, 2019 — Correction: This story has been updated from a previously published version to fix that 29 pedestrians have been killed on Toronto streets this year. An earlier version had the wrong number.

With files from David Rider and Abhya Adlakha

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