Let's not get too secure with Canadian moral superiority

 The City of Toronto records more than 40 pedestrian fatalities in motor vehicle collisions per year. By comparison, there were 39 gun-related homicides in 2017. That's right, motor vehicles kill more people than guns in Toronto, though in about the same range. 

 

The slower a motor vehicle goes, the more minor the injuries in a pedestrian collision. Notably, 50 kph is regularly fatal or disabling, whereas 30 kph is normally recoverable. 

 

Both the city's chief medical officer and chief coroner have proposed that default speed limits be reduced to 30/40 kph (residential/main streets). There are two ways to do this: posting limits all over the city (which requires money) or asking the province for the authority to change the default limit within the city boundaries. 

 

Toronto / East York local council has already moved in this direction with some local speed restrictions. Some councillors oppose it, primarily from the suburban set - Minnan-Wong being a notable example. 

 

Let me restate that: there are a significant number of councillors who privilege some minor convenience by their car-using constituents over saving lives. 

 

This is morally equivalent to the USAn politicians who continue to enable gun violence because their constituencies would feel inconvenienced by not being able to have easy access to assault weapons. The scale isn't equivalent, but it's essentially the same trade-off.