On the last day of 2019, friends and family gathered to mourn Wei Jie Zhu-Li, an exchange student from China.

Just 19 years old, he was one of two Centennial College students killed by an alleged drunk driver on Dec. 22, along with Damir Kussain from Kazakhstan.

The deaths of the two young men bring the total number of pedestrians killed on Toronto’s streets to 42 by the Star’s count. This matches last year’s total, which was the worst since 2002, which saw 50 deaths. The deadly year has left advocates frustrated and saddened.

“Obviously it’s really depressing,” says Dylan Reid, of the safe streets advocacy group Walk Toronto.

“It says to me that we haven’t really made the changes to make a difference yet.”

In June, Mayor John Tory announced “Vision Zero 2.0,” a revamp of a three-year-old plan that has so far failed to reduce the city’s rate of traffic deaths. The plan calls for lower speed limits, which Tory said he wants implemented quickly, with stickers over existing signs if need be.

The plan also calls for the implementation of short-term design changes using paint, bollards and other features, rather than waiting for crumbling streets to be routinely rebuilt with the city’s “complete streets” system that includes pedestrian safety concerns.

Reid believes faster and more systemic change is needed including lower speed limits, road redesign, comprehensive traffic enforcement and a provincial law to protect road users by enforcing serious consequences for drivers who kill pedestrians.

“We still haven’t made the fundamental changes needed,” he says.

“It’s still a piecemeal plan it’s not a full Vision Zero concept.”

The Star began keeping its own count of traffic deaths in 2017 to fill gaps in police numbers, which don’t include fatalities that occur on private property or provincially owned 400 series highways.

Fifteen motorists, six motorcyclists and one cyclist have also been killed on Toronto streets in 2019, according to Star data. At least 25 of those pedestrians (some were never identified) were over the age of 60. Many were on more suburban streets in areas such as Scarborough.

Advocate Jessica Spieker, a spokesperson for advocacy groups Friends and Families for Safe Streets, said her first reaction to the number is “overwhelming sadness for the 42 families that are devastated, knowing that each of these crashes was preventable and they didn’t have to be put in this horrible position of having lost a loved one.”

She’s also angry “because we do know how to fix this problem, it’s not impossible.”

Spieker says what’s needed is investment and “too many of our political leaders act like they don’t understand what Vision Zero actually is.”

Going into 2020, “we need to give up the finger wagging and the lip service, and change the design of the system,” she added.

Spieker was riding her bike home from work in 2015 when she was T-boned by a driver turning left. She suffered life-threatening injuries, including a broken spine and traumatic brain injury.

Jessica Spieker, a member of Friends and Families for Safe Streets, holds the twisted frame of the bicycle she was riding when she was hit by a driver on Bathurst St..

She agrees with Reid that comprehensive road redesign is needed, as well as lower speed limits. Measures such as narrowing lanes for motor vehicle traffic, adding traffic calming measures and putting physical protection between vehicles and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians would save lives, she says.

“There are a lot of particularly suburban councillors who don’t support infrastructure design change because it’s unfortunately perceived incorrectly as a war on the car but it’s not, it’s simple changes to induce people driving cars to do so at safe speeds and protect vulnerable people from motor vehicle traffic,” she adds.

“That’s the only way any city in the world has successfully reduced its death toll, that’s what we are strongly resisting doing in Toronto, and that’s why Vision Zero is clear, abject failure in Toronto.”

Pedestrians killed in 2019

A 60-year-old man hit while operating a mobility scooter on Close Avenue, south of Queen Street West, on Jan. 7. He died in hospital the next day.

A 69-year-old woman hit while walking across O’Connor Drive, north of St. Clair Avenue East, on Jan. 8. She died in hospital more than a week later on Jan. 16.

Hang Vo, 58, hit by a garbage truck in a laneway steps north of St. Andrew subway station on Jan. 15. A building manager who works in the area told the Star that Vo, who was homeless, regularly slept in the laneway.

A 40-year-old man hit by a dump truck on Jan. 16 while crossing Lawrence Avenue West at a marked North York intersection, off the Allen Road exit.

A 75-year-old man hit by the driver of an Infiniti while crossing the intersection of Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue West on Jan. 16. He died in hospital a week later.

A man in his 60s killed in a hit-and-run collision near the intersection of Bathurst Street and Bloor Street West on Jan. 17. Police said reports indicated he was hit by a garbage truck.

A man hit by a transport truck driver while walking in the eastbound express lanes of Highway 401 at the Yonge Street exit on Feb. 2. The OPP have not released the man’s age, nor why he was on the highway.

An 89-year-old man hit crossing Warden Avenue, south of Bamburgh Circle on Feb. 16. He died in hospital almost three weeks later, on March 7.

An 80-year-old man hit while crossing Finch Avenue West near Pearldale Avenue on Feb. 25. He died in hospital the next day.

A 90-year-old man hit in a restaurant drive-thru near Steeles Avenue West and Bathurst Street on March 12.

A 62-year-old woman hit by a TTC bus near Bloor and Sherbourne streets on March 29.

Marie Schihl-Gigliotti, 31, of Toronto, hit while attempting to cross Highway 401 on foot following a collision on April 5.

An 88-year-old woman hit by a pickup truck on April 6 near Finch Avenue East and Tiffield Road. She died in hospital later that day.

A 67-year-old man hit on Highway 401 after being hit by a transport truck that failed to remain at the scene on May 29.

A 39-year-old woman hit and killed after a driver lost control, mounted the curb and hit a fire hydrant before striking her on at Dundas Street East and Regent Park Boulevard on June 20. The male driver was charged with impaired driving.

A 56-year-old woman hit by a heavy truck at the intersection of Victoria Street and Queen Street East on June 26.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

A 62-year-old woman hit by a vehicle near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West on July 10. She was later pronounced dead at hospital.

A 68-year-old woman struck by a garbage truck in North York on Cliffwood Road, at Barkwood Crescent, on July 16. She was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

A 71-year-old man struck by a car at Islington Avenue and Millwick Drive. He was taken to hospital with life threatening injuries on July 28. The man died two days later.

A 69-year-old woman struck on Aug. 9 by a vehicle in North York. She was pronounced dead on scene at Doris and Finch avenues shortly before 10 a.m.

A man hit on Steeles Avenue East, east of Bayview Avenue at Laureleaf Road on Aug. 20.

A 76-year-old woman killed in two separate hit-and-run collisions minutes apart while crossing Midland Avenue at Sheppard Avenue East on Aug. 21.

Miguel Candia, 72, hit on Kingston Road, just east of Morningside Avenue, on Aug. 25.

Celeste Jones, 34, hit on Sheppard Avenue East near Pharmacy Avenue on Aug. 30.

A 75-year-old woman hit on Dixon Road at Islington Avenue on Sept. 6. She died in hospital due to injuries the following day.

A 97-year-old man hit by a motorist at Warden and McNicoll avenues on Sept. 6. He died more than two weeks later on Sept. 23.

Evangeline Lauroza, 54, hit by a driver of a cement trump while crossing Erskine Avenue on Yonge Street, north of Eglinton Avenue East on Sept. 10.

A 59-year-old man hit on Lawrence Avenue East, near Ainsdale Road, on Sept. 17.

A 17-year-old male hit on Confederation Drive and Scarborough Golf Club Road, on Sept. 23. He was crossing four lanes of Scarborough Golf Club Road when he was struck and killed. The closest traffic light is almost 200 metres away.

A 65-year-old man struck in the area of Danforth and Pharmacy avenues on Sept. 24. Police said the section of Danforth Avenue where he crossed didn’t have any traffic lights.

A 58-year-old man hit while crossing Kipling Avenue, south of Bethridge Road on Sept. 29.

A 74-year-old man struck while crossing Eglinton Avenue West and Don Mills Road by a driver in an SUV on Oct. 28.

An 83-year-old woman struck while crossing St. Clair Avenue West at Castleton Avenue by the driver of a van on Oct. 28.

A 56-year-old man hit in the area of Howden Road and Lawrence Avenue East on Oct. 30.

A 91-year-old man struck by the driver of an SUV while crossing Lawrence Avenue West at Rosewell Avenue on Nov. 22.

An 84-year-old man hit while crossing St. Clair Avenue West, near Christie Street, at around 11:20 p.m. on Nov. 22. He died in hospital on Nov. 27.

A 24-year-old man hit while crossing Lawrence Avenue West at Keele Street, within the boundaries of a marked crosswalk. He was hospitalized for nearly a month before dying on Dec. 11.

Pasquina Lapadula, 77, who was killed in a hit-and-run as she crossed Islington Avenue shortly before 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 28.

A 78-year-old man struck by a driver while crossing Lawrence Avenue East, between Valparaiso Avenue and Barrymore Road at around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 15.

Wei Jie Zhu-Li and Damir Kussain, both 19, who were hit by an alleged drunk driver near Markham Road and Progress Avenue on Dec. 22.

A man who killed after being hit by the driver of a transport truck while walking on Highway 401 near the Allen Road around 1 a.m. on Dec. 30.